As the school years go by the workload seems to increase. More exams, more homework and higher levels of stress. All our years at secondary school lead up to our GCSES, one month or so of exams whilst the two years after that contribute to our A Levels. This is obviously why stress levels around exam season are so high because we put so much work into such a small period of time.
But why do we need to have so many exams? Why do teachers give us so much homework? We are told exams are to measure our intelligence, to see how well our teachers are teaching us and homework is meant to improve how much we know however it seems like it all never ends. It sometimes feels like teachers don’t understand that we have our own lives because of the amount of homework they give us and when this is paired with weekends full of revision, we don’t.
GCSES increase in difficulty each year and so does the stress. Childline says they delivered 3135 counselling sessions on exam stress in 2017/18 which is an 11% increase in the last two years. One in five of these sessions took place in May, the major exam season.
However, there are several ways in which we can deal with an overload of homework and exams. You could:
-Complete your homework the night you get it and don’t leave it till the last minute, this way you won’t be rushing, and you’ll feel calmer.
-Take regular breaks when you revise so you can absorb all of the information you have learnt.
-Create a revision timetable so that you don’t become too overwhelmed and so you can make sure you revise everything you need to.
The most important thing you should do is spend time with friends and family because in the end our mental health is more important than exams and homework.
Emma Knight
