Last year I sat for my lower certificate of education examination. This was the first important hurdle that I had to cross in my academic career. Up to that time I had been automatically promoted from one standard or from to the next.
My parents are not very rich. They could not afford to send me to a private tutor in the town, nor could they coach me, not being highly educated them. I had not taken studies seriously during the primary school years. During the three years in the lower secondary school, I had worked fairly hard. However, I had not fared better than being admitted to the third stream out of the six in form Three. I had progressed steadily throughout the year but had still failed to pass in all subjects at the trial test held in the middle of July. Thus my chances of doing well at the lower certificate of education examination were rather slim.
After the examination was over my parents were often overheard talking disappointedly of my future. They had little confidence in my ability to pass the examination or to cope with my studies in the higher forms if I did manage to scrape through it. They accordingly decided to find me a job immediately, if possible, but definitely, after the results were out.
I had different idea of the situation. I felt that I had done very well at the examination. The hard work that I had put in during the three months between the pilot test and the real, examination had definitely given me much hope for success. It is true that I had not made many notes during Forms One and Two.4essay.blogspot.com But I had free access to the notes prepared by the best pupil in the first stream, a friend of mine. A young teacher who joined the school after the December holidays had given me much-needed help and encouragement.
When the results were published, I was staying with an aunt of mine living...
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