IT IS the culmination of years of hard work for thousands of pupils.
On Thursday, they will get their GCSE results and will be hoping for a bright future.
In Hull, the past few years have seen results rise far faster than the national average, as the city looked to shake off the education failings of the past.
Last year, for the first time, more than half of pupils in the city gained the benchmark of five A* to C grades including English and maths – a far cry from just 28 per cent in 2008.
It has been a steady and sustained rise in results and the hope was this would continue for years to come.
But this year, a change in the way results are to be recorded threatens to halt the rise.
Last September, Whitehall officials said they believed many pupils nationally were being speculatively entered for GCSEs too early.
They said schools were doing this to benefit their ranking in the league tables, rather than in the best interests of the pupils.
The new policy means pupils who have taken the exam more than once can keep their best grade and use it for job interviews and university applications.
Schools, however, can now only count the grade a pupil achieved in the first exam they entered.
Councillor Rosie Nicola, Hull City Council's portfolio holder with responsibility for education, says she does not see the point in the change, arguing a GCSE pass is a GCSE pass, no matter when the exam is taken.
She said: "When we passed the 50 per cent mark last year, that was really rewarding, especially as in 2008, in Hull, we were on 28 per cent. Now what has happened is they have changed the goalposts again."
The changes have proved controversial.
Those schools which use the early entry as a means of increasing achievement are either going to pay a heavy price in the league tables, or cut out the practice altogether.
Many heads are refusing to conform, believing the early entry system is a valuable tool to raise attainment.
But with league tables proving so crucial to schools, other headteachers have felt they have no option but to stop putting pupils forward for GCSEs early.
Cllr Nicola said: "Employers ask if you have a GCSE, but they don't ask if you had to resit it.
"If you have got the bit of paper, you have got the bit of paper. So there is a big dilemma now about what does that mean?
"Across the country, and in Hull, it might mean a dropping of the overall percentage and that will be a real shame, because it will look as though we are taking a step back, when that is not the case.
"With this new kink in the system I can't put a figure on the results and that is really frustrating.
"I don't think this is constructive or positive. I want kids to go on to GCSE success, to A-levels, apprenticeships and training courses feeling confident and feeling they have really proved their worth.
"I feel that sometimes, with all this stuff being changed all the time, it sends the message that the Government doesn't believe these children are doing as well as they are and that is horrible.
"There seems to be an obsession that schools are somehow going around the back to fiddle figures.
"In Hull, we have been really pulling ourselves up by the bootstraps over the past few years and then they go and change the goalposts.
"We have schools in parts of Hull that are producing results with young people that I think are gobsmacking.
"That can't be just a fiddle, that can't be the headteacher being good at massaging figures.
"These kids are getting a better start in life than in my day and what they must feel is whatever they do, it is not up to scratch."
Despite the uncertainty surrounding results this year, Cllr Nicola says she wants those pupils opening their results on Thursday to grab every opportunity they can.
"The future is looking really positive," she said. "There is going to be a lot of highly paid, skilled employment opportunities in this city in years to come. I want kids to really maximise the opportunities this city is going to offer them.
"We can't say to employers coming in 'you can only hire people from Hull'.
"What we can do is get young people seeing these opportunities and what it is they can do to get themselves on track to really make the most of these.
"We need to give children that sense of confidence and aspiration so, in the end, the people living in Hull are the ones getting those jobs because they are the best candidates."
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