Walking into a classroom to film the show made me feel physically sick - it was like I had school PTSD. My school days were a miserable blur spent in the desolate no man's land between being a cool kid and being a geek. I wasn't anywhere near slick enough to be one of the cool kids, but got too many Bs and Cs to be initiated into the secret society of the geek illuminati, which convened in the far corner of the library every lunchtime. Now I've made a career out of trying to be funny and clever - a professionally geeky cool kid.
I was smart enough to get better grades but it takes a lot to keep me interested in something and not many of the teachers could. There's one exception I : my Geography teacher, Mr Freem, was so ionate about his subject that you couldn't ignore him. He lived and breathed it - he was always turning up with climbing gear and hiking boots. Mr Freem didn't teach Geography, he was Geography. I don't envy a man whose job it is to make a teenage me interested in soil erosion, but he somehow managed to pull it off. So at school when I could choose between doing Geography or History at GCSE, it was no contest.
I got a second chance last year to give GCSE History a go. I was lucky that History seems to be less boring than when I was at school. All I is loads of stories about Kings, Queens and Empire - basically the talking points for the Dad’s Army lot. When this is what we're taught, is it any surprise we treat it like an Internet browser and 'delete history'?
The History GCSE I did was less monarchist and more internationalist: the revision notes I looked at (for about an hour in total) were on China, Russia and the US. It's almost as if they were trying to teach me about the modern world and Britain's place in it.
Living and breathing something - like Mr Freem did with Geography - is the only way I've ever known to learn. It's difficult to live and breathe Queen Victoria invading half the world because, well, she could. But I used to work in Shanghai, I studied in Boston and I went to Moscow during the filming of the show - so I knew a bit about the history syllabus. How many kids who hate school would love it if there were fewer dusty textbooks and more exotic school trips? This is the 'cultural capital' they're talking about when working out why some kids have such an easy time absorbing education, getting a career, winning at life.
Teachers realise how tough it is - I was shocked (in a good way) at how militant the teachers are now in predicting pupils' grades, planning their learning and making sure they do the best they can. The session we had with the deputy head teacher, Mrs Ford, was like a scene out of Saving Private Ryan. Part of me thought, 'this is school, not the SAS', but she reminded me that GCSEs are 'gateway qualifications'. If the gate is locked shut, it's not easy to sneak through the gaps in the bars.
I wish I'd given up trying to be one of the cool kids at school and committed to geekery. The less fun you have at school, the more fun you have after you leave. Bill Gates might have been bullied at break time, but if anyone tries to steal his (billions of) lunch money now, he can probably call an airstrike - from his limo.
See how Omar gets on in Search for A*, tonight at 10.40pm BBC One Wales.
