Exams don't set the end result

CRIME-WRITER Ian Rankin's results were good enough to win him a place at Edinburgh University, where he began to hone his writing skills.

Sir Tom Farmer, however, left school in Leith with no qualifications at just 15, after disappointing third-year exam results. That didn't stop him building business empire Kwik-Fit, which he sold for £1.2 billion.

Stories like his are perhaps surprisingly common among some of the city's leading entrepreneurs.

Here, several well-known faces recall their experience of sitting exams and getting the results, and what bearing it had on their lives.

Rhona Cameron, 42, comedienne, wrote poems on her exam papers at Musselburgh Grammar.

"I was pretty resigned to things after sitting my exams. I handed in some of my papers with poems written on them, and essays explaining why I shouldn't have to be judged in this way when my talents lay elsewhere. I believed in fate at that time and just let things take me places.

"I hated most subjects and had attention difficulties at school, plus my father had just died.

"I got a conditional place at art school but was short of an extra Higher and O grade. I knew I would be a rover and earn my living as a creative person and loathed academia.

"After school I attended further education college with the intention of getting the necessary requirements for art college again, but got sidetracked by a good looking girl in my politics class."

Sir Tom Farmer, founder of Kwik-Fit and owner of Hibs, says he is "rather ashamed" by his academic performance at Holy Cross School, in Leith.

"I left after sitting my third year exams. I can't say I was very enthusiastic about school.

"I'm rather ashamed to say that my exam results would not be the highlight of my school year. I did the best I could and I always got recognised for doing that, but I did not qualify for any prizes.

"One of the problems we have so often is that we value the targets rather than targeting the values.

"We need to realise that encouraging people to do their best is just as important."

Clare Thommen, 29, director of lingerie firm Boudiche, found her Royal High School exam results were not enough alone to impress employers.

"I don't think I had huge expectations because I had no idea what I wanted to do. At the time I wasn't really taking my studying seriously and when the results came through I was more nervous about being found out for not doing enough.

"I got two As – one in English and another in Management Information – and a C in maths.

"I went to Stevenson College afterwards to take a course in business administration, but didn't get a certificate because I failed a module.

"I wanted to work in finance, so I told a prospective employer that I was prepared to study accounts at night class. I got the job, studied part-time, and ended up qualifying as a chartered accountant."

Karen Koren, 58, comedy promoter, went back to college after leaving Mary Erskine School "to prove I wasn't stupid".

"I left in December 1965. I was supposed to leave in 1966 but couldn't quite make it! My headmistress was a witch, though. I remember her telling me that 'we won't be sorry to see you leaving' as I walked out the doors for that last time. I wasn't that bad though. I was just desperate to grow up.

"I didn't leave with anything and ran away to dance. I went to Glasgow and London before coming back when I was 19.

"I got the English higher when I was 27 at Stevenson College, just to prove to those that called me stupid that I wasn't and to prove to myself too."

John Loughton, 20, winner of Big Brother Celebrity Hijack, was scared to return to his old house to pick up his Highers results from Craigroyston High.

"It was a nightmare. My exam results were going to my old house, which was a really bad area in West Pilton.I didn't particularly want to have to go round in the morning and have to wake someone up to collect them.

"So I planned to get up first thing in the morning, so I could wait for the postman before he delivered them. I ended up over-sleeping and missing the postman, so I had to go to the Post Office depot to finally get them.

"I had promised my mum and dad I wouldn't open them until I got home, but I took a peek on the bus home. I got four As, two Bs and 2 Cs."

Charlie Miller, 63, celebrity hairdresser, left Niddrie Marischal School, in Craigmillar, with no qualifications.

"I left school without passing any exams. I felt fine after finding out my results, I didn't feel stupid or diminished. I worked in the Co-op for a few months stacking shelves but then got into hairdressing.

"It doesn't mean that you are any less intelligent. passing exams doesn't mean everything.

"There's so many hands-on learning experiences out there that people don't always get hold of because they feel they have to stick to the academic route to find happiness."

Ian Rankin, 48, author of the best-selling Rebus detective novels, doubts his exam results from Cowdenbeath High School would get him into Edinburgh University today.

"I got five Highers, 2 As, a B and 2 Cs. It was over thirty years ago, so I don't really remember how I was feeling at the time I got them.

I do remember that I was on holiday in England when they came out, so I remember being in a callbox and getting them read out by my mother.

"With those results I got into Edinburgh University but I'm not too sure if they would be quite enough to get into the university now."

Grant Stott, 41, Forth One DJ, forgot all about his exam results from James Gillespie's.

"The day the results came out caught me by surprise, bizarrely.

"Four or five of us were all out camping at Paul Baur's house.

"Due to the excitement of spending two or three nights in his back garden we forgot all about it.

"One morning Paul's wee brother came running over and said 'Paul, there's a big brown envelope arrived for you'.

"At that moment we all realised the O-grade results were coming out – we couldn't get back quickly to our own houses.

"It was an absolute disaster, out of five O-grades, I had passed only one – secretarial studies."

Richard DeMarco, 78, artist and arts promoter, Holy Cross School, Leith.

"I managed as head boy, rugby captain and head of house to fail my favourite subject, English. I passed my other two but in those days that didn't count if you had failed your English paper.

"I left with regret at this but I didn't feel diminished because of it. I took evening classes and got the pass.

"I've got four honorary degrees now, so failing that class wasn't the worst thing in the world to happen to me."