GCSEs are coming soon for Year 11s all across the UK and in fact the creative subjects have already begun. But this year there is a new feature of the exams- a feature that is to be guinea-pig tested for the first time officially. The 9-1 grading system.
As a Year 10 student already almost two years into her course, this is not the first time I have encountered this new system, yet that isn't to say that I haven't encountered a few issues with it.
When the change was announced in late 2016 by the Tories, I heard from many a teacher that they couldn't tell us anything about the new grade boundaries, just that 9 was great and 1 wasn't. The equivalency chart was promptly released and that was when the real complaints came in.
"So an 8 is an A and an A*?"
"What's the pass mark- 4 or 5? I don't understand!"
Now, several months later, and the original panic has been resolved, leaving behind the more serious problems. What the new grades mean for us, the students.
It is still unknown to me, as a student, on how I will be graded when it comes to the big fortnight in 2018. Different teachers say different things- "the top 3% will get 9s, so all the grammar school children will get the high grades", or "a 9 is just an A**" (the favourite answer, to my knowledge). But according to the official Government website, www.gov.uk, "A formula will be used that means that about 20% of all grades at 7 or above will be a grade 9."
I'm not sure about you, but I couldn't make head or foot of this wording the first time around. It was not until my third or fourth read when I realised it meant that grade 9 will be awarded the top 20% of 'A-A*' students. 20 %? It may be bigger than the rumoured 3% told to me previously, but 20% is not a large portion. Though it may be successful in the means of highlighting the elite students, I already have experienced that it has done so at a hefty price.
Pressure. Stress. These are things every one remembers about exam periods, but these new GCSEs seems to be worsening it. Competition has soared since the opportunity to get the top grade has so drastically decreased with the new number system. I have witnessed the GCSE buildup every year since 2014, but never before have I seen it to be quite so stressful. Students have been staying back for more and more revision sessions, dragging away the attention of our teachers when we need help (not that I can blame them). I've seen Year 11s with one evening's revision stacked higher than my week worth of homework. And I have quite a bit of homework.
It seems to me that all these new GCSEs have done so far is pressure the children more, to put more stress into the lives of teenagers already dealing with the stress of puberty and maturing. We're still in that turning time between child and adult, we barely have emotions and energy to spare as it is. Can't we just get some slack?
Good luck to all the Year 11 students.
By Ciara Fleming, Charles Darwin School
