A 92-year-old man is believed to have become the oldest person to take the GCSE exam after completing math work along with a school hall full of 16-year-olds.
Derek Skipper took the exam at Rural College Comberton near Cambridge after completing a free online course that included using it for the first time on YouTube. He had to use a magnifying glass to read the paper due to his poor eyesight, and said his time was up before the end, but he was still hoping for a level 4 or 5 result.
“It doesn’t matter two shots for the result, but I would like to get 4 or 5,” he told SWNS. “I really liked it and learned a lot about using a calculator. I think it was easier for me than many other people on the course. “
Skipper course teacher Shane Day said he hoped his story would inspire others to start learning later in life. “I think it’s good for people to think you’re never too old. This is a wonderful thing to do. He said he wanted to keep his mind active and that’s much better than watching TV, “Day said.
Skipper completed five hours of training per week in two sessions provided by Zoom before taking the exam through an adult training course run by the Cam Academy Trust.
He said he decided to take the course to “stay busy” after trying to help a young friend who had repeatedly failed math at the GCSE.
“Obviously I’m a little slower and I’ve found that I sometimes switch off. “My brain just stopped working in a minute or two,” he said.
Skipper received five school certificates when he was a teenager, including one in math, and last week took his 1946 slide rule on his exam.
He is sad that he missed only one day of school during World War II, when a bomb blast blew his front door on his bike and left him with a puncture, and this time he was just as strict about attendance. .
“He was always very careful, he always showed up on time,” Day said, adding that the previous oldest person he taught was 74 years old. “Derek was definitely the oldest person I’ve taught, but we have people in their 50s or 60s who just do it because it’s a good thing to do, a nice way to spend an evening.”
Add Comment