The thought of upcoming exams is a daunting one for 15/16 year olds across the country. I for one feel relatively underprepared having done little work this Easter break but I know that many friends who have been cramming I up to 16 hours of revision per day and are going to bed in the early hours of the morning also still feel as scared as me. These are certainly the biggest exams we have had to do yet in our academic lives and the pressure is mounting form teachers, parents and ourselves. Expectations are high and everyone wants to succeed.
It seems nonsensical to me to cram 2 years of lesson time into a two-hour exam but this is how the system works and it is time to accept it at last. The question still remains as to how effective examinations are as a meter for success and academic rigour, especially as exam boards phase out coursework and grades become solely based on how well you perform on the day. A set of letters is an unfair way to assess a person surely, to base a job offer off of in 10 years’ time? Nonetheless those who don’t embrace the system wholeheartedly (the mavericks) will always be the ones to lose out, especially as our current Year 11’s will no longer have AS Levels to provide during the university application process, so much more emphasis will be placed on this set of grades, even if its including subjects you don’t intend to carry on with in September. For an English student to be refused a place at a university because of a poor Physics or Chemistry grade makes no sense to me, but, alas, an all-rounder academic is now what universities want and expect form potential candidates.
