I have accomplished many things in the past three years. Some accomplishments felt better than others due to the differing amount of effort I put into various endeavours over the years. However, no accomplishment felt better than passing my grade eight clarinet exam, which I had been playing for five years. My exam seemed to validate all that I had been working for. The five years I had spent practicing and performing paid off. I had a real and usable certificate that I could use to open doors. Even though I was quite talented at playing the clarinet, I still had to work hard to pass my exam. Before the exam, I had been practicing almost everyday. Even after all this effort, I was still quite worried I would fail the exam. My scales were