I recently completed my mock exams in year 11 and while revising was not the way I wanted to spend my Christmas holiday, it gave me time to think about the exam system in the UK, and what it’s getting wrong.
From the time we’re young, we’re told school is a place to learn new things. Education is supposed to be fun and innovative. However, as we grow up this changes, and ultimately school is no more than grueling exam factory. From the moment we join higher education (High School or Senior School), we are trained to produce successful exam results at whatever cost to our wellbeing. Whilst pastoral care may seem important in school, the harsh reality is that in most cases low grades are still frowned upon, no matter the excuse. And it’s not just that; exams have become the backbone of going onto further education (college or university) which puts even more pressure on teenagers. Here in the UK, it has now become harder to get accepted into any decent university without good grades.
While you may think the government would surely make the exams less difficult to decrease the amount of pressure on teens, this is not the case. Most subjects exams are split into several sections, one of which being coursework aka controlled assessments, which is completed in school time mostly in the form of a project and accounts for anywhere between 0% and 60% of your final grade depending on the subject. However, as time goes on the relevance of this coursework is being questioned and several exam boards have cut this method of assessment altogether. This means exams make up more of the final grade. As a result, an off day can jeopardize the rest of your education. A tragic event like the loss of a family member could be the difference of acceptance into a university. And the examiner cannot know your story. If you happen to perform the badly on the day there is no way of explaining yourself and sitting retests are becoming increasingly difficult.
A tragic event like the loss of a family member could be the difference of acceptance into a university.
Now, this may be the worth the effort if the exam helped teens develop life skills that could be applied later in life, but realistically they don’t. If you can’t remember a date of an important historic battle, look it up. Need to do a difficult sum? Calculators exist! I think I’m speaking for the majority of teens when I say most of the information I remember for an exam I almost immediately forget after I’ve left the exam hall. Cram revision is almost always completely useless in the long run and the nature of school has caused an increasing number of young people to dislike the atmosphere and environment. Despite this, there is pressure to attend lessons as if one isn’t there, a vital topic may be missed and seriously affect grades.
So what are the benefits? As for school, what was once a lively atmosphere to make new friends and discovering new things about the world has become a center for spoon feeding information only for students to regurgitate it onto an exam paper. Despite efforts, the UK is still 20th in Global school rankings. The future of exams is still unknown with systems changing every year making it increasingly difficult for students and staff alike to adapt to a style of learning. One thing is for sure, exams have killed education.
