English paper two is over, and I am so happy about it.
Now that my least favourite subject is done and dusted, I can focus on the ones I really do enjoy. There are so many essays in English, a broad course where you have to learn off all these quotes and contexts, and where you don’t know what poet will come up.
I was glad Emily Dickinson appeared, however, as she was the poet I was most prepared for. I also answered the question on Othello and his status an outsider. I said the racism and discrimination he faced, day in, day out, ultimately caused the tragedy.
English is, by far, my most stressful exam and my hand – my hand! – is so sore from all the writing.
Mortgage-free in a cosy cottage before age 40: ‘I don’t have any savings, but I don’t have any debt either’
‘A haon, a dó, a trois’: How a tiny French village fell in love with Irish dancing
Opinion: As Pope Francis’s book Hope shows, defining what is autobiography isn’t always easy
The White Lotus effect: Who’d associate themselves with such sickening decadence? Almost anyone who can afford to, it seems
That said, the element of extra choice on the paper meant that I finished it early. I used the extra time to go over the paper, making sure there were no obvious mistakes – and then I got out.
I have five exams left to go: Irish, maths, economics, physics and applied maths.
There were not enough students interested in applied maths for the school to offer it, so I studied it by myself.
I did have a computer science teacher who was able to give me a book and some resources, but I’ve done most of it alone. Self-directed learning has been a challenge because you can’t ask the teacher if you have a problem.
Earlier this morning I sat down to do my engineering exam. I really liked a lot of the questions, particularly one that looked at artificial intelligence. As someone who spends a lot of time doing computer programming, I can see this being an area I might work in one day.
