One of my little "life struggles"

By: Kerryn Russell

Exactly how many people have "the dream" - a dream about being successful in life, with very few struggles. "Life's a breeze" I once got told, but I've discovered that nothing could be further than the truth. I discovered this just after I'd finished year 12. My college years were somewhat of this "breeze" but just when I thought I was on my way to University, the bomb exploded.

It was one of those hot summer days, you know, muggy, sticky and no matter how much energy you had, you really couldn't be bothered doing much, let alone dragging your way around the house waiting for those TCE - Tasmanian Certificate of Education (HSC for Mainlanders) results to come. Finally, the postman came. In my hands I held a big white envelope - my destiny. I opened it and before my eyes I saw a mixture of OA's and HA's and said to myself "thank-god...I'm on my way to Uni". But, as my mother took the envelope from my hands, that "thank-god" turned drastically into an "oh-no".

One of those "OA's" was for the lower course - I had somehow failed the top course. Please note, this was for Writers Workshop in which you had to submit a folio of work you had done in the year, which I had received A's for, and the folio marker had failed me. Naturally I was devastated. The tears poured, and the reality that I was not going to make it to Uni was overpowering. To get into Uni, you needed to have passed a minimum of 4 Pre-tertiary subjects, 1 from year 11 and 3 from year 12 (one of which was Writers Workshop), therefore, I did not have the minimum entry.

The rest of the day was pretty much a blur. The question of "what am I going to do now" was going over and over in my head. But then, it all started to change. I got a phone call from my Writers Workshop teacher. She too could not understand why I had failed and that she had gone to the Deputy Principal at my college in my favour to see what could be done. I was told that I could have my results reviewed by the TCE but would not be able to do so until Jan 7th. Please note, yet again, that first round of Uni offers were going to be given out before 7th Jan. Once again, I went into panic. I was pretty much told to sit back, hold my breath and see what could be done, but that I was not going to do!

After many phone calls to the TCE and the college, I received a letter from the University. My first thought was "the rejection letter" but, when I opened it and saw the first line, "congratulations..." my frown turned instantly to a grin you could never wipe from my face unless you tried. The University had overlooked my failed subject and taken an extra one from year 11 instead, and because I had reached a TCE score of 65 (minimum Uni entry had to be 28) they had had accepted me in the first round offers. But wait, there's more. Two days following, I received an apology letter from the TCE stating that they had made a mistake, and that I had not failed that pre-tertiary after all.

The moral to this story? Never jump to conclusions, and if you think something is not right, don't just sit back and accept it, do something about it. I pretty much felt like shit those few days, all because of school results. I've realised that if you don't exactly do as well as you thought, it's not the end of the world. There are always alternative way around things, so never just sit back and accept, get out there a prove your way in this struggling life - if I can do it, so can you.

For more info on how to cope with exam results and planning for the future, check out some of these links...

• Coping with exam results(Fact sheet)
• Setting goals(Fact sheet)
• Judgement day(Story)