Derek Skipper took an exam at Comberton Village College near Cambridge after completing a free online course that included using YouTube for the first time. He needed to use a magnifying glass to read the newspaper because of his poor eyesight and said he ran out of time before the end, but was still optimistic about a level 4 or 5 result. “Two conversations are not important for the result, but I would like to get 4 or 5,” he told SWNS. “I enjoyed it a lot and learned a lot about using the calculator. “I think I found it easier than many other people in the class.” Skipper’s teacher Shane Day said he hoped his story would inspire others to start learning later in life. “I think it’s good for people to think, well, you’re never too big. It’s great to do. “He said he wanted to keep his mind active and that was much better than watching TV.” Skipper completed five teaching hours a week in two sessions delivered by Zoom before taking the exam through an adult education course hosted by the Cam Academy Trust. He said he decided to take the class to “stay busy” after struggling to help a young friend who had repeatedly failed GCSE math. “I’m obviously a little slower and I found that at times I went off. “My brain stopped working for a minute or two,” he said. “I ran out of time, but I had resorted to most questions other than the ones I thought seemed complicated, to which I would return if I had time.” Skipper received five school certificates as a teenager, including one in math, and took the 1946 rule in his exams last week. He regretted missing only one day at school during World War II, when a bomb exploded in front of his bicycle door and left him with a puncture, and he was just as strict in attending this time. “He was always very careful, he was always on time,” Day said, adding that the previous oldest person he had taught was 74 years old. “Derek was definitely the oldest I’ve ever taught, but we have people in their 50s or 60s just doing it because it’s a nice thing, a nice way to spend a night.”
