Going to the Big School

Junior school was soon behind me, even though I had friends, generally I was the 'quiet one'. Tests and things were not so complicated back then, it was simply the 11+, you either passed or failed..... I failed. This led on to going to a 'Secondary Modern' school. At the time it seemed very large and impersonal. I was in a class of about 30 which included another 5 classess of the same number, so (I thought) quite a few. My achievements there weren't particularly spectacular, like most others my interest in girls was starting to evolve. Also because I was in the 'top' stream I was put forward (there was about 8 of us) to do the 13+. This was like a 'second chance' exam to move onto another school and get a potentially better education.
Now learning from my experience two years previous I decided to 'focus' on what I was doing and bought a practice book for the exam, I think it was one of those verbal reasoning tests. Simply I practiced and practiced and on the day of the exam itself I found the test an absolute doddle, but I then heard nothing for weeks or was it months, just nothing.
One day out of the blue I was summoned to the Head Masters room, couldn't understand why as I had done nothing wrong. On arrival I found out that I had passed and would be changing schools in the summer.
Here is an example where I was given an opportunity and made the most of it, I grabbed the second chance with both hands. It's like life really make the most of what you have, use your time wisely.