Importance of belief and humility.

i finished my GCSEs today. I got an 8 in English Literature. From the start of year 10, I thought it'd be impossible for me to even pass it. I got a one on my November mocks (4/90 on the paper, only not a U because of coursework) and all the unofficial mocks in class were even worse. So, since it was a lost cause to me, I neglected my coursework entirely. Did nothing on it outside of school, so I didn't get the grades I could've on it. I ended up with 47/60. Then, the real exam came. I got 75/90, and with that, I missed a 9 by 3 marks overall. Top level response on every question. If I had just believed even a little bit, I could've put more effort into my coursework and easily gained one extra mark across every piece of coursework, and I would've got a 9, but no. I convinced myself the 9 was impossible because I had never tried. And because I told myself it wouldn't happen it didn't.

I also got an 8 in Computer Science. This had been one of my strongest subjects since the start of GCSEs, behind only Maths and Spanish. I convinced myself I was so impossibly great, that I didn't need to revise for it, because I got 9 in all of my mocks by a pretty large margin without studying. Then, the real exam happened, and I came undone. I never studied except the day of the exam, and I was so confident in paper 1 that I fell asleep mid exam when I was done. Then, I got my results back, and I saw 75/80 on paper 2. Pretty good mark. But then, I saw the 59/80 on paper 1. That should've never happened. It wouldn't with even an ounce of humility, but I thought I was too good for it. I was under stress (personal reasons) but that is not an excuse, and because of that, I missed one of the easiest 9s I could've got.

I ended up with final results of 9999998888 + A. I was so arrogant that until January 2025, I never even listened in class, I always just flirted with girls or listened to music and would answer the questions by just using common sense or cheating when we got given them. I only started studying after on New Years, I got drunk and realised that what I was doing wasn't enough and I needed to try harder. I only started studying outside of school on 16th April 2025, and even then not particularly intensely (yes, I wrote down the day, don't ask why). 6 weeks before my first GCSE, because I thought I was too good to do so at any other point in time. If I had just started 2 months earlier, the one mark off in Chemistry would be a 9, one off in music would be a 9, my coursework would push me up to a 9, and I'd fly through Computer Science. But no. I was too good for it. And because of that, I lost out on 9999999999 + A. 2 of my friends got it and I wake up every other day dreaming on the first time I saw my results slip and what happened; that I got a remark and it went up to all 9s. But it won't happen, and it's my fault.

When you're doing your GCSEs, never think you're too bad for a subject, or that you're too good for one. It won't go well. Do your best no matter what, because the only way to get the best out of something is to put your best into it. If not for yourself, do it for your future self. They'll thank you. Good luck to anyone reading this, and I hope it helps someone <3 .

Hey! How are you doing now? Did you start sixth form? Hope you're doing ok

i finished my GCSEs today. I got an 8 in English Literature. From the start of year 10, I thought it'd be impossible for me to even pass it. I got a one on my November mocks (4/90 on the paper, only not a U because of coursework) and all the unofficial mocks in class were even worse. So, since it was a lost cause to me, I neglected my coursework entirely. Did nothing on it outside of school, so I didn't get the grades I could've on it. I ended up with 47/60. Then, the real exam came. I got 75/90, and with that, I missed a 9 by 3 marks overall. Top level response on every question. If I had just believed even a little bit, I could've put more effort into my coursework and easily gained one extra mark across every piece of coursework, and I would've got a 9, but no. I convinced myself the 9 was impossible because I had never tried. And because I told myself it wouldn't happen it didn't.
I also got an 8 in Computer Science. This had been one of my strongest subjects since the start of GCSEs, behind only Maths and Spanish. I convinced myself I was so impossibly great, that I didn't need to revise for it, because I got 9 in all of my mocks by a pretty large margin without studying. Then, the real exam happened, and I came undone. I never studied except the day of the exam, and I was so confident in paper 1 that I fell asleep mid exam when I was done. Then, I got my results back, and I saw 75/80 on paper 2. Pretty good mark. But then, I saw the 59/80 on paper 1. That should've never happened. It wouldn't with even an ounce of humility, but I thought I was too good for it. I was under stress (personal reasons) but that is not an excuse, and because of that, I missed one of the easiest 9s I could've got.
I ended up with final results of 9999998888 + A. I was so arrogant that until January 2025, I never even listened in class, I always just flirted with girls or listened to music and would answer the questions by just using common sense or cheating when we got given them. I only started studying after on New Years, I got drunk and realised that what I was doing wasn't enough and I needed to try harder. I only started studying outside of school on 16th April 2025, and even then not particularly intensely (yes, I wrote down the day, don't ask why). 6 weeks before my first GCSE, because I thought I was too good to do so at any other point in time. If I had just started 2 months earlier, the one mark off in Chemistry would be a 9, one off in music would be a 9, my coursework would push me up to a 9, and I'd fly through Computer Science. But no. I was too good for it. And because of that, I lost out on 9999999999 + A. 2 of my friends got it and I wake up every other day dreaming on the first time I saw my results slip and what happened; that I got a remark and it went up to all 9s. But it won't happen, and it's my fault.
When you're doing your GCSEs, never think you're too bad for a subject, or that you're too good for one. It won't go well. Do your best no matter what, because the only way to get the best out of something is to put your best into it. If not for yourself, do it for your future self. They'll thank you. Good luck to anyone reading this, and I hope it helps someone <3 .

I'm doing really well I've made some friends, I'm in great shape (ran 2 miles in 11 minutes while sick a couple of days ago) and I'm flying through all my classes (already getting A* by at least 20% on every maths past paper set (got 38% above on 2022 series) I do, could easily get A* in fm pure if I did a paper and maybe A* overall but I didn't really study stats meticulously so maybe not, I started studying physics from the textbook yesterday and am already 3% done with the whole 2 year course, in like 2 hours, comp sci I answered some actual past paper 12 markers pretty easily, I'm also studying chemistry independently, starting 2 days ago, and I'm already better than my friends taking it so that's going well. I've got plenty of time to start drumming again, which I am, I've become incredible at trackmania (am 1096th on a server where everyone I know who's top 1200 did so in 1000+ hours while I reached 1155th at 100h), and overall I feel great. If I had put even a fraction of this time into my GCSEs I would've got all 9s, no question. And the best part is, it doesn't feel draining. I feel genuinely excited doing this because I've realised how much I genuinely love learning. I started GCSEs despising all subjects bar maths and physics but looking back on it, I actually would definitely not mind studying English language at a level, I'm watching university biology lectures in my free time, and the only downside is I'm just mad at myself for not having this drive beforehand. Long story short, I feel great and I'm doing great. Thanks for asking <3.

You do make pretty good remarks. I hope you're getting on well with Sixth Form, you seem to hold a lot of passion for your subjects.
Admittedly I have never really revised Mathematics and Computer Science when I was doing my GCSEs. I'm in Year 13 and I still have not revised Mathematics once and I sometimes look at my textbook/notes because OCR A-Level Computer Science twists my head backwards.

SO glad to hear you're doing well this is great news, it seems like you're really flying high!
Have you got any upcoming plans?