Stand down day is approaching! It’s exam season again for all Year 11s and Sixth formers in England, where classes are filled with revision, past papers, and study leave couldn’t feel any further away.

After all, many people do find that personal revision at home is more effective than coming into school, since school is filled with distractions, other people, and long travel times, especially for those living far away. An extra hour or two can be saved by simply using the travel time to school on extra revision. However, stand down day is officially less than a week from today’s date, 2nd May, as we stand down on Wednesday the 8th of May. This is merely a day before the first exams, including Religious Studies and Drama. Creative subjects are at the tail end of the exam period, like Design & Technology, and Food Technology.

‘I’m quite excited to leave as I’m so excited for the summer, and kind of just want to get exams over and done with so I can enjoy it, but it’s a bit bittersweet as several of my friends are leaving which is sad, having seen them every day for five years. I think the lead up to GCSEs, since February, is worse than the actual exams due to the anticipation. I’m nervous about my GCSEs but I know it will be fine in the end. I think I’m ready to move into Sixth Form as you have a lot more control over what you do and I think that sounds great even though I used to think study periods sounded so boring.’ - Eva Tyack

The past five years of school have been an arduous yet fruitful journey. We had only a term of regular schooling, then suddenly quarantined in our own homes for the debut years of the 2020s. Our school had very irregular quarantine schedules, which spanned the majority of Year 7, almost all of Year 8, and only reverted back to normal in Year 9. Year 10 and Year 11, the GCSE years sped by in a flash, like all the previous years before, and all our previous efforts have all come to our real GCSEs.

There is a week to go until the first exams. Good luck to all who have exams this summer: Year 11’s, Year 13’s, and all other years with end of years and mocks. Exams are merely a stepping stone in life.