I came to Otago Boys’ in 2018. I think I had always wanted to do well in everything I did, but high school certainly heightened that expectation I had of myself.

NCEA level 1 went well but as everyone will tell you boys the step from level 1 to 2 is very large. This year when I got my level 2 external results back I was disappointed. I had been holding myself to an expectation from Year 10 and 11 and felt like others were as well and I hadn't met it at all. It was during this time in the holidays that I learnt an important life lesson. Hard work will always pay off. It might not get you what you desire every time, it might not 100% achieve you that goal. But I can guarantee you, and have experienced, that it will benefit you and will pay off in other ways no matter what.

An experience with expectations which is not unique to me or school. You will all encounter many expectations in life, and sometimes will feel the pressure of trying to meet them is too much. My advice to you is to hold yourself to a high personal standard and not to worry about what others want, because you will expect more of yourself then they ever will. Coming to terms with yourself about whether you have lived up to your expectations is one of the hardest challenges of all.

So the past few minutes have been a briefer version of the last word I gave over video in July when we couldn’t have assemblies. I'm going to assume a decent number of you never saw it and even less actually remember it. Well after I found out yesterday morning that I needed to do another last word today, I was tempted to just read the whole thing again. However, I decided as it talks a lot about my experiences with exams and the fact that the first mock exams start tomorrow, I should give some of my advice on exams.

A disclaimer as I sit here at 10:28pm writing this. I am no expert at studying, I have no magic method to get good results. In fact I hate studying. The thing is though studying actually works, you do better if you actually force yourself to do it. It is tempting to not do anything with your time in between exams while on study leave, but please boys just put your head down to do some. The end of term is only a week and a half away and then you can do whatever you want to. And phones boys, at risk of sounding like every authority figure you hate, study in a different room from them. I don’t care if they are on silent or not, just leave it in a different room then there is not the temptation to distract yourself by checking it. Other general advice would be when studying, take short breaks in between and if possible avoid cramming the night before, instead relax for the evening and get a good sleep. That is all I can really give you.

I will end with a quote from the late Queen Elizabeth II.

“When life seems hard, the courageous do not lie down and accept defeat; instead, they are all the more determined to struggle for a better future.”

Keep up the struggle and good luck with exams.