There is a secondary school competition called OKTV in Hungary: everybody in year 11 or 12 can compete in various subjects and those who end up in the top 30, have a huge advantage when applying uni. This comes in the form of plus points - the Hungarian uni application system is nuts, but long story cut short, you can get 500 points, out of which 100 points are called ‘plus points’ and you can get those for advanced leveled maturas, language exams and competitions. I participated last year in the literature category and came 25th, and I got 25 plus points, which is pretty good, but far from the expectations my teachers had, so it felt like a failure. I had my heart, my sanity, my right hand and my tears in that competition, but this year I’m much more laid back (this means I handed in an essay to my teacher three weeks late, and I didn’t even feel bad about it, one of my teachers even said that maybe that’s why I’ll get a better place this year), mainly because it’s not my top priority. But my topic is amazing - it’s Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell, and I love those books to pieces. I don’t have high hopes for the competition, but for Orwell, the effort is worth it.