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Seven As is just the icing on the cake for island student

Kirkwall Grammar School student Courtney Russell with her head teacher award and Peter Higgs Science Award that she earned this year.
Kirkwall Grammar School student Courtney Russell with her head teacher award and Peter Higgs Science Award that she earned this year.

This batch of exam results wasn’t going to make or break university-bound Courtney Russell, but she had to admit that seven As still felt pretty great.

She said that this year’s exam diet felt less stressful than it did last year. That’s big talk from someone who sat five Advanced Higher and one Higher.

Because she already had an unconditional acceptance to St Andrews University prior to Tuesday’s results being released, she didn’t necessarily need top marks.

But that didn’t mean the Kirkwall Grammar School student wasn’t aiming high.

“I’ve always got As, and it would really quite annoy me if I didn’t this year,” she said.

Top marks across the board

Luckily for Courtney, she had little to worry about. This year’s results were just as she had hoped. But even top students know anything can happen on exam day.

“It was quite a relief to see that I’d gotten As in some of my harder subjects like physics, because as it got closer to results day I got less convinced that I’d done well in those.

“It was quite nice to get those results this morning.”

She officially ends her S6 year at Kirkwall Grammar School with As in Advanced Higher maths, physics, chemistry, biology and French, as well as an A in Higher human biology and a Scottish Baccalaureate in science.

This year, it felt a lot more serious with it all depending on the one exam.”

A first time for everything

Courtney was in the batch of students who sat official SQA exams for the first time as an S6. If it hadn’t been for the Covid pandemic, she would have had at least two years of exam experience under her belt.

The feeling of conquering a true exam diet added that little bit of extra sweetness to her results.

“It is a great feeling, especially since we had proper exams this year,” she said. “It feels a bit more like I’ve actually earned those grades!”

She felt she was well-equipped to handle this year’s challenge, but said that there was a big difference compared to previous years.

“I think I found it okay, because I quite liked all my subjects so I found it easy enough. But I know there are a lot of others who found it quite difficult.

“This year, it felt a lot more serious with it all depending on the one exam.”

Last year, grades were based on teacher assessment and cumulative coursework over the year. And in 2020, exams were cancelled altogether.

Courtney said that she was grateful to be able to sit prelims this year, which gave her a taste of the exam atmosphere.

She also felt like her teachers went the extra mile to help students prepare.

Off to the mainland, for now

With a fresh batch of A’s under her belt, Courtney is now setting her sights on excelling at St Andrews. She’s hoping to continue studying biochemistry but said she’s keeping her career options open.

She might find herself back on her home islands at some point. But right now, she hears the faint call of bright lights down south.

Read more from the Schools and Family team

‘It was a big jump’: Aberdeen pupils receive results after sitting first-ever SQA exams

Island pupils bring home impressive exam results after two years of alternative assessment

North pupils celebrate strong results in first exams post-Covid

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