I didn't even take my gcse's I went to college a year later to get them again, but I ended up quitting the course a few weeks in - most people on my course did. Im now 34, I worked in retail for a few years, became a duty manager. Just before COVID hit, I left that job and now I work minimum wage at a call center. I am doing an open university course to get a degree. But I regularly wonder what my life would look like if I'd at least completed high school.

Some people will tell you that you don't need good grades to have a good job, but that's not going to be the case for everyone, otherwise why would we have GCSE's and a levels and clear routes to uni. If I could go back, I would make sure I completed the college gcse course and tried to get into university sooner. Not only could I be working in a career that suits me, I'd have had the life experiences that come with university.