A-Level Russian triumph for straight A Moray pupil with Ukrainian mum
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AN ELGIN pupil has smashed his exams with incredible results which boast a personal – and political – resonance.
New S5 Andrew Seton received seven As at National 5, and an A in A-Level Russian.
The Elgin Academy pupil, whose mum is from Ukraine but grew up in Russia, said his seven National 5s were “all fine”, but his Russian qualification was much tougher.
Taking on the two-year course in half the time was a "real challenge", he said, being forced to rely on online courses for the qualification and travelling down to Glasgow for his exam.
Future engineer Andrew said he had been “doubting himself” before receiving his results, but they had taken: "so much weight off my shoulders.".
“I’m so glad it is over with," he said.
"I did far more studying for the Russian than for the National 5 exams.
"It was loads of work.
"I spent all of last year with no free time, just studying for it."
He was glad to have cracked the qualification this year, he added, so he can now focus on the next step in his academic journey.
"I'm glad my mum made me do it last year instead of this year," he said.
"Because it would just have been too much with my Highers too.
"My mum said if I got a C or anything I would have to do it again this year – which wouldn't bode well with the Highers.
"This year matters a lot more."
Andrew said he hoped Russian would be a "trump card" when applying for university and job interviews as well as providing extra UCAS points.
The qualification built upon his success at GCSE Russian two years ago.
However, over the past year, the war in Ukraine has made the subject "embarrassing to talk about".
The future engineer added that he was open to working in the country "if it gets better over there".
"I haven't really been there very often, so I don't speak it that much," he said.
"And after the war started it was a bit of an embarrassment to talk about it and all that.
"But if it gets better over there I could do some engineering work in Russia, maybe."
Andrew, in his fourth year exams, got A in National 5 English, Maths, French, Engineering, Physics, Chemistry and Applications for Maths.
