A student who had her A-level results downgraded after predicting the exams crisis in her dystopian short story has had her first-choice university offer reinstated.
Jessica Johnson had applied to the University of St Andrews but was rejected after her English A-level result was downgraded from A to B.
However, after a government U-turn leading to results being determined by teacher predictions instead, Johnson has secured three A* and an A, and had her offer reinstated.
“I’m definitely relieved and I’m really excited to go,” the 18-year-old said. “I’m glad, for me at least, it’s been sorted but obviously there’s still a lot of people in a really confusing situation so I’m hoping university places start to be sorted for them, too.”
After weeks of stress and anxiety, Johnson said she was glad the nightmare – which she eerily predicted in a short story about an algorithm last year – was coming to an end, and was looking forward to starting her English course in September.
Ivar Møller, the University of St Andrews director of UK and EU admissions, said: “We are delighted for Jessica and look forward to welcoming her and all our new students into the St Andrews family in a few weeks’ time.”
Johnson has had a whirlwind few days since her 2019 Orwell prize-winning story gained media attention earlier this week, and said it had been an amazing experience to have so many people reading her work.
“I’ve fallen into my story. It’s crazy,” said Johnson, a student at Ashton sixth-firm college in Greater Manchester.
But despite all the excitement, she is disappointed her warning about educational inequality in the UK was not heeded earlier.
“If the story had been read a year earlier, then perhaps things may not have gone the way that they did,” she said. “So I would encourage people in power to read other young people’s work and see what they have to say.”
