WELL THAT WAS STRESSFUL.
So, I had my first prelim exams today - English, the writing paper and both the reading papers.
THE MORNING COULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN OFF TO A WORSE START.
So, yesterday it was FREEZING and everything was covered in frost and ice, and it was a pain. It's Scotland. It happens.
Now, when I looked out the window today, there was no frost, only puddles - it rained heavily all night, and it was still raining. (Though it was beginning to turn to hail.)
So, I'd have no trouble getting to school, I thought.
BOY WAS I WRONG.
I got up much earlier than I usually do, as my exam started at 9.05, and you're supposed to be there ten minutes before - school starts at 8.55 anyway, but I wanted to have lots of time just in case.
So, I left the house at about 8.30. I noticed there were an awful lot of cars driving about all over the place outside - we live in a little sort of cul-de-sac, at the bottom of a slope. Anyway, we pulled out the drive, and my mum commented on how loose the steering wheel seemed to be, and it was true - we just seemed to be... sliding. And then it hit us - the ice from yesterday hadn't melted and was still coating the road. And it was covered in rain.
The other cars could not get up the slope. There was no sort of grip - they'd only get so far, then start sliding back down again. We did our best, but then we sort of slid backwards into someone's garden - they were out, just to say. We were okay there, as the little kerby bit stopped us from rolling back any more, but, well, we were kinda stuck there.
Then I started seriously panicking, as it was about 8.45, and it takes about 5 minutes to get to the school.
We got out of the car and managed to get over into the grass. Then our wonderful next door neighbour came over and somehow managed to get our car back down to the end of the cul-de-sac, then vroomed up and into the main street. So we gushed our thanks and made it up to the car, and finally we were getting somewhere. All the cars were going very slowly like us, because no-one's stupid enough to go zooming around in conditions like that.
I got to the school at 9.02. I walked all the way round, and they'd locked the fucking doors.
So, I had to rush back round to the main office doors, and danced about from foot to foot impatiently in the line for latecomers. It was already 9.05. Thankfully, one of the teachers spotted me and asked me if I was doing a prelim, and let me past. Everyone was still waiting outside the hall. I was a shivering, out-of-breath wreck by then, and it didn't help that some idiot boys decided it would be fun to go "LOL LATE" and laugh about my moustache - YES, I KNOW I HAVE ONE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THERE'S NOT MUCH I CAN DO ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW.
We started to go in, then I heard the word "registered" being said, and I had to run back out again to tick my name off on the list, then dashed off to the exam hall.
I was in a complete state. Honestly, I was shaking so much, from stress and fatigue and nerves. In the English writing exam, you are given a booklet with topics and titles for essays and short stories, and you need to pick one and write it in the hour and fifteen minutes that you get. Writing is actually what I do best, always has been, but I get so worked up about it - if I don't have the perfect idea, with a fantastic beginning, middle, and end, I cannot write.
I didn't get the perfect idea.
So, I was sitting there sweating for about half an hour, and finally gave up and buried my head in my arms. Then an invigilator spotted me and asked if I was feeling okay, and if I wanted to have a break. I was led outside, and she gave me some tissues and a bottle of water, and generally just calmed me down. I explained why I couldn't write, and she went back in and had a word, and told me I would be allowed to sit it again in the afternoon :D Then my year head (the one who locks the bloody doors) decided to wander past and spoke to me too - he is actually quite nice, it's just the door thing that annoys me. The invigilator went back in and brought my stuff out, as it was obvious I wasn't going back in any time soon, and I was sent off to sit in the medical room for a while, as it would be "quiet". Believe me, the medical room is far from quiet. It's a strange and cramped place, and people just sit on chairs with ice packs pressed to their head or a bucket on their lap, while the woman at the desk idly dials their parents.
I spent a good twenty minutes there, then came out to join everyone else in the little break between exams. We went back in at 10.35 for the reading exams, and, can I say, it was a complete breeze. Seriously. I pretty much happily hummed my way through both of them, surprising all the invigilators who knew about my little freak-out earlier. I had to speak to the head invigilator guy about my re-sit, and he said it would be fine if I sat it at 2 along with the people doing their Home Economics exam.
Then there was lunch, and that was long and boring as most of my friends had done all their exams for the day and just, er, swanned off, and then I had a few minutes at Computing before I had to go. My teacher gave me half a packet of Tic Tacs, to clear my mind o_O Which was nice, but, um, not really necessary.
I cheated a little at the writing exam, I will admit. Just a little. I had already started a short story a few days ago, and I found a way to link that story with one of the titles from the booklet and basically just wrote it out again, then added a little more. It only came up to two and half sides of A4, but, well... they were some very well written two and half sides of A4 xD Maybe. Seriously though, I piled on the description and figures of speech to impress the marker. I did my best to round the story off, even if there was much, much more in my head. But, well, I'm quite confident.
Then it was pretty much time to go home and the rest is boring.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.
THE MORNING COULD NOT HAVE GOTTEN OFF TO A WORSE START.
So, yesterday it was FREEZING and everything was covered in frost and ice, and it was a pain. It's Scotland. It happens.
Now, when I looked out the window today, there was no frost, only puddles - it rained heavily all night, and it was still raining. (Though it was beginning to turn to hail.)
So, I'd have no trouble getting to school, I thought.
BOY WAS I WRONG.
I got up much earlier than I usually do, as my exam started at 9.05, and you're supposed to be there ten minutes before - school starts at 8.55 anyway, but I wanted to have lots of time just in case.
So, I left the house at about 8.30. I noticed there were an awful lot of cars driving about all over the place outside - we live in a little sort of cul-de-sac, at the bottom of a slope. Anyway, we pulled out the drive, and my mum commented on how loose the steering wheel seemed to be, and it was true - we just seemed to be... sliding. And then it hit us - the ice from yesterday hadn't melted and was still coating the road. And it was covered in rain.
The other cars could not get up the slope. There was no sort of grip - they'd only get so far, then start sliding back down again. We did our best, but then we sort of slid backwards into someone's garden - they were out, just to say. We were okay there, as the little kerby bit stopped us from rolling back any more, but, well, we were kinda stuck there.
Then I started seriously panicking, as it was about 8.45, and it takes about 5 minutes to get to the school.
We got out of the car and managed to get over into the grass. Then our wonderful next door neighbour came over and somehow managed to get our car back down to the end of the cul-de-sac, then vroomed up and into the main street. So we gushed our thanks and made it up to the car, and finally we were getting somewhere. All the cars were going very slowly like us, because no-one's stupid enough to go zooming around in conditions like that.
I got to the school at 9.02. I walked all the way round, and they'd locked the fucking doors.
So, I had to rush back round to the main office doors, and danced about from foot to foot impatiently in the line for latecomers. It was already 9.05. Thankfully, one of the teachers spotted me and asked me if I was doing a prelim, and let me past. Everyone was still waiting outside the hall. I was a shivering, out-of-breath wreck by then, and it didn't help that some idiot boys decided it would be fun to go "LOL LATE" and laugh about my moustache - YES, I KNOW I HAVE ONE, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. THERE'S NOT MUCH I CAN DO ABOUT IT RIGHT NOW.
We started to go in, then I heard the word "registered" being said, and I had to run back out again to tick my name off on the list, then dashed off to the exam hall.
I was in a complete state. Honestly, I was shaking so much, from stress and fatigue and nerves. In the English writing exam, you are given a booklet with topics and titles for essays and short stories, and you need to pick one and write it in the hour and fifteen minutes that you get. Writing is actually what I do best, always has been, but I get so worked up about it - if I don't have the perfect idea, with a fantastic beginning, middle, and end, I cannot write.
I didn't get the perfect idea.
So, I was sitting there sweating for about half an hour, and finally gave up and buried my head in my arms. Then an invigilator spotted me and asked if I was feeling okay, and if I wanted to have a break. I was led outside, and she gave me some tissues and a bottle of water, and generally just calmed me down. I explained why I couldn't write, and she went back in and had a word, and told me I would be allowed to sit it again in the afternoon :D Then my year head (the one who locks the bloody doors) decided to wander past and spoke to me too - he is actually quite nice, it's just the door thing that annoys me. The invigilator went back in and brought my stuff out, as it was obvious I wasn't going back in any time soon, and I was sent off to sit in the medical room for a while, as it would be "quiet". Believe me, the medical room is far from quiet. It's a strange and cramped place, and people just sit on chairs with ice packs pressed to their head or a bucket on their lap, while the woman at the desk idly dials their parents.
I spent a good twenty minutes there, then came out to join everyone else in the little break between exams. We went back in at 10.35 for the reading exams, and, can I say, it was a complete breeze. Seriously. I pretty much happily hummed my way through both of them, surprising all the invigilators who knew about my little freak-out earlier. I had to speak to the head invigilator guy about my re-sit, and he said it would be fine if I sat it at 2 along with the people doing their Home Economics exam.
Then there was lunch, and that was long and boring as most of my friends had done all their exams for the day and just, er, swanned off, and then I had a few minutes at Computing before I had to go. My teacher gave me half a packet of Tic Tacs, to clear my mind o_O Which was nice, but, um, not really necessary.
I cheated a little at the writing exam, I will admit. Just a little. I had already started a short story a few days ago, and I found a way to link that story with one of the titles from the booklet and basically just wrote it out again, then added a little more. It only came up to two and half sides of A4, but, well... they were some very well written two and half sides of A4 xD Maybe. Seriously though, I piled on the description and figures of speech to impress the marker. I did my best to round the story off, even if there was much, much more in my head. But, well, I'm quite confident.
Then it was pretty much time to go home and the rest is boring.
Hopefully tomorrow will be better.