How many of you are yearning for the return of the Summer season? Most of you, I presume- after all, who doesn’t enjoy splashing in the sea or craving an ice cream sundae on a warm summer’s day. One season never fails to return however, despite the whinging and whining of 15-year-old teenagers around the nation. That’s it, former, current and future year 11s… the mock season has begun!

Having just sat my first two GCSE mock exams, I can finally appreciate why teachers begin to express unusual compassion and consideration towards students before they leave for the Christmas holidays. However, during the prep talk that came just before the commencing of the exam, 6 words, as delivered by the head invigilator, abruptly caught my attention: “this is not the real thing.”

The more I thought about it, the more I seemed to agree with her. As intimating and nerve-wracking as they may seem, the mocks weren’t designed to sap the most minute glimpse of hope within us; in fact, the opposite is true. It would be very impractical and unfair if our school suddenly told us that we had to sit the final GCSE exams that would cling to us for the rest of our lives, and how would we be aware that no memory sticks or Pritt Sticks were allowed in the examination room? The school is therefore trying to help us whilst they can, so that we don’t make the same mistakes come June.

If you are in year 11 and are currently sitting your mocks, I wish you all the best for those as well as the GCSEs, and if you have already sat your mocks, good luck with your final GCSE exams!

By Aaron Sanjeevan, Saint Olave's Grammar School