As a year 10, you find teachers talking every single lesson all year about end of year examinations, mocks and GCSEs, but what they do not tell you is the shocking arrangements of such exams in some schools. The GCSE exam period is around five weeks (including half term), however, for Year 10s at certain schools in Bromley it is only as little as a measly three days to complete as many as nine exam papers.  

  

While it is understandable that in most subjects Years 10s have only completed around half the GCSE course, many students agree that is it incredibly unreasonable to cram all these exams in such a minuscule and rushed period. One student stated, “With end of year exams coming up, and only spanning a length of three days for all core subjects, the rise of pressure and stress within the student community is palpable”. An abundance of schools in Bromley preach about mental wellbeing for all students but then hits them in the face with a completely unrealistic timetable unlike anything they have ever experienced before; or will ever experience again.  

 

The idea of end of year exams and mocks is to get students used to exam conditions for their actual GCSEs. Therefore, for the current year 10s, next year they may well have three exams in the same day as they currently do for mocks. However, what is unrealistic is that they will have three exams every day for three days on the trot. A student from a different school in Bromley claims they “understand the importance of mocks but can't understand why they have been arranged in a way that makes them so stressful”. This timetable schools are introducing is unnecessary as there is plenty of time left in the term to spread out these exams and all it is doing is causing unanimous stress and panic among students. So, please wish the year 10s luck in these demanding times. They need it.