Tried and tested by the Common Entrance Exam

This is about something that did not happen to me at school, an exam I dreaded, but never had to take. It was the only examination that ever really worried me, and it was called Common Entrance.

Do not confuse it with modern imitations bearing the same name. In those days, preparing for it involved (for me, anyway) translating English into Latin and French (a proper knowledge of irregular verbs and a wide vocabulary in both those languages was required). It also demanded thorny and tricky types of mathematics, an astounding grasp of largely Imperial geography – and a full knowledge of English history since the Conquest. I actually understood the jokes in 1066 and All That, for which modern children would need a decoder.

But after about six years of dreading it, I was spared from it. This is perhaps why, since the age of 13, I have been oddly untroubled by O-levels and A-levels or by the degree I was mysteriously awarded at the end of my university years.