Paddy, 20, from Worcestershire, says that whilst sitting his A-levels, his anxiety was “massively heightened” by his obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
He is passionate about politics and volunteers for mental health charity Young Minds, now sharing his experience to help others.
“All my focus turned to these exams, and I just couldn’t enjoy anything else, if I wasn’t studying,” he says.
“And then any time anything went wrong, I would catastrophise and think, ‘That’s my whole life ruined because of the exams.’ And this kind of built up and built up.”
Paddy says his parents were “incredibly worried” about him at the time, and before one of his exams he broke down crying “uncontrollably”.
The pressure of exams affected his sleep and eating, and heightened his OCD symptoms, he says.
On the day itself, he made sure he had plans, so whatever the results were, he wouldn’t have to sit at home and worry.
Now Paddy says he looks back with “so much pride”, because “whatever happened, whatever my grades were, I survived a really, really difficult period of my life”.
He was very happy with his final A-level grades – two A*s and an A – but now wonders at what cost.
He says he wishes he had taken more time to relax and be “kinder to myself”, which he thinks may have put him in a calmer position.
Having been through it with his counsellor, he wants others to remember that “you’re so much more than some numbers on a piece of paper”.