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.
Janan Ganesh: Elon Musk is wasted in the US – but he might shock Europe into changing its ways
Peter Pan review: Gaiety panto takes off with dizzying ensemble numbers and breathtaking effects
Lebanon ceasefire: ‘We have no windows, no doors but we can live. Not like other people’
Sally Rooney: When are we going to have the courage to stop the climate crisis?
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.
