I did my A-Levels in Computer Science, English Literature and Media Studies. Media Studies was a mistake. My thinking had been: "Ah, Media Studies. That sounds like you get to just sit and watch telly. Sounds good to me!" When the course began, I was pleased to have my expectation confirmed. I began to get slightly worried after two or three weeks, when it became apparent how right I'd been. We just sat and watched telly. That was it. We never, for instance, learnt anything.

English Literature at least seemed to be more of a success. My extended essay, which contributed a large percentage towards my final mark, was on Brave New World, Erewhon and Utopia, and the final draft was deemed worthy of a B, which was good enough for me, so when I was handed it back to make any last changes I didn't bother, and added it straight to my folder of finished work, which I handed back in and thought no more about.

Shortly thereafter I got a phone call from the head of English. "Will you be coming into school today?" she asked. "Yes," I said, for I had a Media Studies class. She asked if I could go and see her in her office when I arrived. "What's it about?" I asked. She hesitated, and said: "It's about your extended essay."

When I arrived at school I was sat down in a room with the head of English and my English teacher. They placed an essay on the table before me. A cursory glance told me it was about Brave New World, Erewhon and Utopia. "Is this your essay?" they asked.

It wasn't my essay, but it was, apparently, the essay I had handed in. A girl in the other class, whose essay was on the same texts, had handed hers in but never got it back. When she inquired after it, the teacher discovered that it had disappeared. Finally, it turned up - in my folder.

In my defence, I did at least have an earlier copy of my essay, which had been given a B - the same mark as this girl's essay had been awarded. So, what I was being accused of was stealing this girl's essay after it had been handed in, and then, without rewording it, retyping it, or even writing my name at the top, handing it back in as my own - even though I had already written an essay just as good. The alternative scenario, of course, was that the teacher had been handing out essays to my class, seen this girl's without a name on and assumed it was mine as she recognised the topic, and handed it to me by mistake. Of these two possibilities, I can't believe that she really favoured the first. I suspect that she was well aware of what had happened, but was trying to frame me to save herself from getting into trouble. Anyway, my dad threatened to take them to court, and suddenly they were prepared to drop all charges.

I got at A for Computer Science, a B for English and a D for Media Studies. Jon got straight A's.

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