So, DS gets in the car. and I drive off. By the time we've gone 100 yards, he's told me that he thinks it went well. I'm relieved.
Then I make the classic mistake of letting him tell me more. The last question was worth 40 marks / 80 for the whole paper.
It was a choice between a picture of an old man and writing a story that has an unexpected ending.
I think that DS is lucky to have studied Climbing my Grandfather as he has had to think, in detail, about how life leaves marks on you, and shows the good and the bad. As a bonus, lots of students would take the perceived easier option of the unexpected ending story, which the examiners will likely get a bit bored of.
However, a second later, DS informs me that he took the unexpected ending option. I think "okaaayyy, you had an easy win, and made it hard for yourself, but you said you did well, so I'm going to focus on that thought".
Then he tells me that he wrote a story with a surprise at the end, except if this was a whodunnit, then the reader would have guessed the ending by the bottom of the first page, and never been given cause to waver throughout the whole story. The character might have been surprised but no one reading it would think it unexpected.
I smile and say all the right things.
Then DH calls and DS tells him the same story. I speak to DH privately about it later, and DH says to me that DS answered the question because the character didn't expect the outcome.
I have said nothing, but i can't shake it off! I now see where DS gets his obtuseness from! Or its a male thing, but, personally, I think its genetics.