Do we put too much pressure on young people with exams?

Depends, some teachers/parents put an outrageous amount of pressure on their kids basically implying the kid's life is a failure if they fail. It's not as black and white as this and untruths should be discouraged.

Personally I felt no pressure because my mother said 'Do what makes you happy', I honestly flunked my GCSEs and A-levels because I wanted to get drunk. Even in my university exams I kinda rushed because I was hungry and really wanted some chicken.

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 45

Oo unjaded jade
She good accepted to a good uni
If that's relevant 😹

Reply 46

I honestly don't know what I think about Minerva... but she did well in her A-levels. :smile:

Original post by HateSchx

Oo unjaded jade
She good accepted to a good uni
If that's relevant 😹

Reply 47

Original post by Themysticalegg

I honestly don't know what I think about Minerva... but she did well in her A-levels. :smile:

Well? She did damn great 3 A* 😹
Pffft oxford made a mistake

Reply 48

username1292215

22

Schools need to teach children that exam stress is natural and offer advice as to how to make the most out of that’s presssure/stress. Because you are going to be under pressure in your job anyway. Also I never really heard any teacher/ school say “mistakes are okay just make sure you learn from them” lots of kids don’t know this

I couldn’t figure it out until I did my exams in First Year university.

Reply 49

Original post by Themysticalegg

Depends, some teachers/parents put an outrageous amount of pressure on their kids basically implying the kid's life is a failure if they fail. It's not as black and white as this and untruths should be discouraged.

Personally I felt no pressure because my mother said 'Do what makes you happy', I honestly flunked my GCSEs and A-levels because I wanted to get drunk. Even in my university exams I kinda rushed because I was hungry and really wanted some chicken.

I love chicken!

Reply 50

Honestly anything above a D is classed as 'well' for me. :rofl:

I'm ngl I am rather concerned about the route she has taken with Minerva for a STEM subject which traditionally has lots of lab work but time will tell whether it's worth it. But if anything goes wrong she can always go back to Bristol and the others she applied for.

Original post by HateSchx

Well? She did damn great 3 A* 😹
Pffft oxford made a mistake

Reply 51

ta97

Being under pressure and facing challenges are a part of life. When you look beyond exams and into the working world/life in general, you will face many pressures (both from society and family), challlenges and stressful situations- complaining and having a moan about things on social media won't really cut it as you will be expected to handle pressure and get things done.

Of course, A-levels and GCSE exams are stressful and a challenge but we shouldn't scrap them because of this. I did them, found them hard but there's a lot more to life than just exams - you realise this as you get older.. If you don't pass an exam, use it as a learning curve and reflect on it. If you don't get the job after the interview, reflect on what could've went better, learn from it and improve for the next time.

It's good to view difficult things in life as a challenge and try and overcome them rather than look for a reason to complain and have a victim mentality.

Reply 52

Original post by Themysticalegg

Honestly anything above a D is classed as 'well' for me. :rofl:

I'm ngl I am rather concerned about the route she has taken with Minerva for a STEM subject but time will tell whether it's worth it. But if anything goes wrong she can always go back to Bristol and the others she applied for.

Ofcourse it's very new and mostly a trial year but it honestly sounds great and exciting which is so different to what you expect uni to be like.
I would seriously take it over oxford 😹

Reply 53

Lewito

19

The only thing that ever made me somewhat stressed about exams wasn't the exams themselves, but the school. They put on so much more pressure than needed, implying that it would be the end of time itself if you fail. But on the whole I was never really stressed much over GCSE's. Everyone saying that this generation has less resilience is absolutely right, I've seen it myself where people flat out gave up because things got a little bit difficult in school, but that's life. For most teens now instead of "when the going gets tough, the tough get going" it's "when the going gets tough, give up and complain on twitter"

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 54

hehe_x

14

I'm not denying that exams are stressful; of course they are - I've just finished a set of exams this week, but we as students take WAY too much stress, far more than is required, and this is somewhat compounded by poor teaching of teachers resulting in a lack of confidence in ourselves, leading to us overthinking our potential unnecessarily. Personally, I think all schools need to be able to better their teaching in order to keep students rest-assured and not worry about whether they will even pass. However philosophical you may get, there is no doubt that English and Maths and some other subjects are basic skills you need to get a job and unfortunately they are not going to be removed from the education system for the sake of "reducing stress" for less able people. Instead teachers can teach better and perhaps with a bit more enthusiasm and with better techniques that can ensure students develop not only skills but a faith in themselves that can allow them to confidently apply the knowledge they're learning, AND also be able to not take stress in the first place by achieving that level of confidence in their learning. (This is coming from a 16 year old so please don't snap at me if you don't agree haha. This is my opinion.)

Reply 55

ta97

Original post by SuperHuman98

Schools need to teach children that exam stress is natural and offer advice as to how to make the most out of that’s presssure/stress. Because you are going to be under pressure in your job anyway. Also I never really heard any teacher/ school say “mistakes are okay just make sure you learn from them” lots of kids don’t know this

I couldn’t figure it out until I did my exams in First Year university.

A lot of this is true. But shouldn't the teaching of how to handle stress come from the parents? The school has a role in this but a lot of the character building should also come from the parents too.

When you look at it from another angle, the main priority of the school is to achive results and look good. While this is important, a lot of emphasis is put on this. Its all about pass marks in schools - if a certain teacher doesnt get a good set of results out of their classes, their job could be on the line because of expectations of headteachers/govenors, hence they place a lot of emphasis on passing rather than 'mistakes are okay'

Reply 56

Indeed and I can say from my experience it's not the end of the world. Some teachers and parents do not understand that if you push someone over the edge they're going to completely crash. I think ultimately a student's mental health needs to be preserved and this is equally important to their effort. Do the best you can but don't ruin yourself for it, life's too short for that. I would say I understand the concept of the 'Snowflake Generation' but your generation does have an interesting set of challenges to contend with such as the 'Fourth Industrial Revolution', an aging population and maybe Climate Change however that will probably effect the next generation far more.

Original post by The Mogg

The only thing that ever made me somewhat stressed about exams wasn't the exams themselves, but the school. They put on so much more pressure than needed, implying that it would be the end of time itself if you fail. But on the whole I was never really stressed much over GCSE's. Everyone saying that this generation has less resilience is absolutely right, I've seen it myself where people flat out gave up because things got a little bit difficult in school, but that's life.

I'm intrigued by these radical approaches, when I was a kid we used Windows ME and floppy disks. We watched films rented from a local Blockbusters. :rofl:

Now we're doing university courses online with Skype interactions! :eek:

Personally I'd prefer Oxford but I'm really old fashioned and I can see the attraction of Minerva it honestly seems quite fun. Minerva have to make sure she enjoys the experience otherwise their reputation is going to be severely damaged for those considering it from the UK. :rofl:

Original post by HateSchx

Ofcourse it's very new and mostly a trial year but it honestly sounds great and exciting which is so different to what you expect uni to be like.
I would seriously take it over oxford 😹

(edited 4 years ago)

Reply 57

hehe_x

14

I agree parents have a role, but not entirely. Most teenagers spend 6-8 hours in school every single day, so they should really be taught handling stress from the teachers as well in that environment, again not entirely by them but teachers do have a large role in this.

Original post by Fuego1

A lot of this is true. But shouldn't the teaching of how to handle stress come from the parents? The school has a role in this but a lot of the character building should also come from the parents too.

When you look at it from another angle, the main priority of the school is to achive results and look good. While this is important, a lot of emphasis is put on this. Its all about pass marks in schools - if a certain teacher doesnt get a good set of results out of their classes, their job could be on the line because of expectations of headteachers/govenors, hence they place a lot of emphasis on passing rather than 'mistakes are okay'

Reply 58

@harrysbar What do you think Lady Harry?

Reply 59

harrysbar