But after talking to my uncle a headmaster I dismissed this idea

But after talking to my uncle (a headmaster), I dismissed this idea. My papers had already been marked twice, and I risked ending up with marks lower than the ones I already had.I decided to give up. Everything had been planned, and I’d even started buying books for my university course.I wanted a re-mark – my results couldn’t possibly be right. My mum must have had a sixth sense, and came home to try to calm me down with hugs and sweet tea I didn’t know what to do. It was everybody’s fault but mine; then it was all my fault for being such a loser. I had to drive home with her, an exercise in self-control on both our parts as I tried not to cry and she tried to be sad for my benefit.As soon as I’d shut the front door, I burst into not just tears, but screaming hysterics. I kept saying to myself, “I mustn’t cry, I can’t cry in front of everybody”, and kept glancing around for smirking faces, ready to yell “Fooled you!” and present my real results – two Cs and a D.You could tell by the looks on people’s faces whether they’d passed or failed My best friend was ecstatic, gaining four straight As.

I kept checking the name at the top of the paper, feeling sicker and sicker I felt my face begin to burn. I really wanted to be the first member of my family to go to university.The piece of paper my results came on was small considering its significance. For all my exams I spent frantic hours of revising, almost trainspotter-ish, with carefully indexed card-files, recordings of history essays on tape and near-total avoidance of the pub.
Waiting in line, I couldn’t even lie “I’m going to fail” because I knew that wasn’t true I totally believed that I had done well. But I sweated blood over that paper, and was satisfied with my work when the exam was over. An A grade was virtually guaranteed in English because I had a high coursework mark.

Even if I just put my name on the paper and then left, the least I would score was a B. I was assured that I would get the two Bs and a C I needed to get into Queen Mary and Westfield College, London University. I was nervous when I was waiting to get my results, but I wasn’t in tears of panic like some of my friends. On the Saturday of the Bank Holiday weekend at the end of August we invite prospective students, particularly those with offers in Clearing, and their parents, to visit and meet staff, and see if this really is the place they wantInterviews by Lucy Hodges. If they haven’t considered the institution before Clearing, they ought to visit It’s easier to visit two or three than ten. If we make an offer, we want to know if they’re accepting that.My advice to students in Clearing is not to hold more than two or three offers It’s far easier to decide from a short-list.