Yeah, my mum's fairly insistent that though I did well in those exams, had my teacher not died, I would've done much better. She points out that on days that directly called the grief to mind I did worst -- the Classics exam I did badly on was on the day of his funeral, his memorial was before one of my French resits which I did terribly on, and the module he taught me for I virtually failed. So I suppose she's right!