As I dropped my pen, waited for my paper to be collected and walked out of the exam hall for one last time, an overwhelming sense of elation hit me instantaneously, as I could feel the weight of the past two years lifting from my shoulders. But what was this heaviness being lifted from me?
A-Levels.
Years 12 and 13 are an immensely stressful time in a teenager’s life and it is fair to say that the past three months in particular has been an especially demanding period.
Perhaps three months seems a little excessive in preparation for the five exams I sat this month, but in all honestly, I couldn’t have done any less. A few hundred pages of notes, a dozen pens and nearly a whole black ink cartridge have prepared me with revision tools and practice papers to ensure that I could walk confidently into the exam room knowing I’d worked as hard as I possibly could.
Nevertheless, there have been two things that have managed to knock me down at this challenging time and it is more than likely that at least one or even both have affected other A-Level students across the country.
As I said, I, and all of my friends and fellow students, have abandoned our social lives and locked ourselves indoors to revise incessantly to ensure we can be confident and prepared for anything the exam paper could throw at us. However, there is still the element of the unknown as to what on earth the exam boards may choose to ask. And it is particularly demoralising when they decide to throw you off entirely with complicated and incredibly difficult papers.
I can truthfully say that my German A Level paper is perhaps one of the toughest exams I have ever sat. The two-and-a-half hour exam, complete with listening, reading and writing sections, is difficult regardless of the questions, with a study conducted by Durham University showing languages to be the hardest A Level subjects after Mathematics and the three Sciences. So why do the exam board decide to make it even worse by including such complex vocabulary and structures? It leaves us students disheartened and deflated after months of work, completely unaware as to how well we may have done and worried for two months in anticipation of the impending results.
The second of my knock-backs came in the form of a news story. And once again, Michael Gove has sparked controversy (and irritation). On the morning of an exam, waking up to the news of education reforms in England as a result of ‘easy GCSEs’ is not the most encouraging and uplifting item. This isn’t the first time Gove has angered students, having reported previously that A-Levels are also too easy and how school days should be made longer (click the links to see my previous posts on these stories).
By removing any form of coursework or modular assessment, the Education Secretary is turning exams into a memory test instead of a true assessment of a student’s intelligence and work ability.
Whilst I’ve already sat my GCSEs, the outlandish and unqualified claim that GCSEs are too easy repeatedly vexes me. With no past in education himself, I cannot understand where Gove makes these claims from and it stands solid to me that such decisions should be a democratic matter among the teachers in-the-know.
There will be students currently sitting their GCSEs who will certainly feel discouraged by assertions that the exams, which they have worked incredibly hard for, are too easy and require reformation.
Gove claims that students are currently living in a ‘resit culture’, where it is deemed acceptable for students to try again and again to achieve their target grade, but Gove is no better for repeatedly changing his plans on education reform.
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| Education Secretary Michael Gove |
As I sit and enjoy my first relaxed and stress-free weekend in months, I plea that education ministers make up their mind and stick to a plan on GCSEs and A Levels and soon accept students’ success as nothing more than its face value than deceiving it as a result of easy exams.
I wish all the best of luck to those who still have exams – freedom is just around the corner! You can do it!
