Yeah, my English was terrible at the end of 7th grade to the point where I was failing it very badly. I'm terrible at grammar. My first English teacher was also terrible at teaching grammar. I'm sure she was pretty good in later grades, but she was useless for a bunch of 5th graders in the mid 90s where no one knew any English yet (maybe the rich kids did, I certainly didn't).

I am very good at German grammar though, so if anyone had told me that tenses are essentially constructed in the same way, it would have made sense that much sooner.

As it was, that summer I discovered fanfic and in 8th grade my English was great! And then in Oberstufe/LK had a teacher who didn't know any idioms or similes in English, so my grades tanked because I tended to use them in exams.

Ah, to never go to school again.