What do you think to ending January exams?

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Reply 20

acer0951

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Posted from TSR Mobile

bump

Make sure to spread the link + tell all your friends on Facebook and Twitter.

Thanks :gangster:

Reply 23

SyedaK

I personally feel as if January exams motivate me. If I sat all my exams in June, then I wouldn't be revising until the last minute. And also stress of revising subjects with exams one after the other

Reply 24

Tha Realest

Important

In the UK, the majority of students sit A-Level examinations, a group of exams which essentially determine pupils a place in university, or alternatively, jobs/apprenticeships.

In the past, students have had the opportunity to sit exams in January and May/June. Obviously, exam periods are stressful, and tests aren’t always accurate representations of how hard a pupil has worked during the course of the year.

As of last year, the A-Level system was reformed, and subsequently, January exams were scrapped. In essence, this means all exams will be sat at the end of the school year, and so pupils will only be able to take one final exam after a whole year of learning. In addition, if the exam doesn’t go well, pupils will have to wait an entire year until the following May for the chance to retake the exam.

In this way, university and job applications will be jeopardised, and stress levels will drastically increase. Pupils will only have the opportunity to take one exam a year; obviously exams don’t always go well, and so one exam a year is clearly an unfair means of testing A-Level students.

Please sign the petition below to bring back January exams/retakes. UK exams are hard enough as it is, we don’t need this extra pressure !!!

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41702

please pass the message on!

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 25

Liamnut

Ofqual have announced that from September 2013, A-Level students will be unable to sit exams in January. This petition requests that the government retracts their proposal.

The pressure on students studying A-levels is already huge; the government’s proposal will exasperate this and prevent many capable students from achieving their full potential. Furthermore, it will disadvantage young people who have missed school due to uncontrollable circumstances such as illness, bereavement or disability. The decision as to whether or not January exams benefit students should remain a choice for schools.

The role of education is to enable students to achieve their best, if you can appreciate the harm that this change will inflict, then please support young people across the UK by signing below.

Some people may agree with me, some people may not. Either way, you should sign the e-petition so the issue can be debated in the House of Commons, I think it's important that something as serious and important as this is debated in full.

Note: 100k Signatures are needed for it to be debated in full, however if we get a fair amount of signatures it could be brought up in an EDM, adjournment debate or ten minute rule.
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/41702

(edited 10 years ago)

bumpy bump

i will definitely sign this, i am in year 11 and i am so worried because of having to do all exams in the summer season. let's make this successful!!

Reply 28

username955985

100,000 signatures are needed for this to be raised in the Commons.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S6500

Reply 29

smd4std

really don't care tbh

Reply 30

BarryIsMyName

Signed

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Reply 31

kate3

signed, but to be honest I doubt it will make a difference. Michael Gove doesn't take advice from anybody, not even headteachers or professionals :frown:

Reply 32

Liamnut

Original post by kate3

signed, but to be honest I doubt it will make a difference. Michael Gove doesn't take advice from anybody, not even headteachers or professionals :frown:

I get that feeling too, but the fact that he's a minister doesn't change the fact that he's accountable to the people. If we really show we disagree with the proposal a U-turn is not unlikely. I feel like if the petition starts to get more signatures it will pick up speed and the number of people signing per day will increase dramatically.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 33

Liamnut

Original post by Rumschpringe

I'm (hopefully) leaving sixth form by the end of June so the scrapping of January modules doesn't really affect me. However if I were younger I know this would be something that would worry me a LOT, especially because I have resat a lot of modules and doing some in January helped to lighten the load. I wouldn't have been able to cope otherwise.
I think it's very unfair and will make getting the grades for a conditional offer that little bit more difficult- it'll affect further mathematicians and those applying for extremely competitive courses at uni very much so.....
I'm going to sign this, I really hope it becomes succesful

I agree, if you're one of those people doing further maths you're going to have 6 exams at the end of the year, for maths alone! That's providing you're not resitting any of the modules you've taken this year.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 34

Liamnut

Original post by GAB

100,000 signatures are needed for this to be raised in the Commons.

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S6500

No, I think, you need 1000 for an Early Day Motion and 10000 for it to be debated in full. However, I'm not sure, that's just what I recall reading in my politics textbook :-p

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 35

username955985

Original post by Liamnut

No, I think, you need 1000 for an Early Day Motion and 10000 for it to be debated in full. However, I'm not sure, that's just what I recall reading in my politics textbook :-p

Oh thats good. When I saw 100,000 I was a bit worried. It already has 6,000 so isnt is an early day motion now?

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S6500

Reply 36

Liamnut

I think EDM's, adjournment debate's or ten minute rule's are for MP's to raise issues that they think should be put on the public record, my understanding is that over 1000 signatures is likely to mean it'll be brought up in one of these debates. Bear in mind the fact that the e-petition will be open until 16/11/2013 14:06

Reply 37

smileyelzz

Original post by Liamnut

Original post by GAB

No, you do need 100 000 signatures for it to be debated in full.

http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/how-it-works

Anyway, I signed but my school doesn't do January exams so it wouldn't affect me.

(edited 10 years ago)

Reply 38

TenOfThem

Schools that do not use January exams generally have better results so I do not understand why the argument is being made that this stops students from doing their best

The word exasperate is being mis-used in that survey ... that may well stop some people from signing

I do not understand why you are not more concerned with the removal of Y12 exams and their input into the final grade as that seems to me to be an actual issue

Reply 39

Liamnut

Original post by TenOfThem

I think you should try reading it again. January exams benefit people who are in less than favorable circumstances, I lost a relative two days before one of my exams and this made focusing very difficult, if the changes that are being proposed do get implemented I will have to wait until this time next year before I can resit. Retaining the information needed to succeed in the exam until this time next year is going to be very difficult and revising for the exam I'm going to need to retake on top of all of the other exams that I'm set to take at the end of next year is going make it even worse. However, if I was given the opportunity to take the exam in January of next year there would not be as much of an issue Also, if you're doing further maths, like me, you're going to have 6 maths exams at the end of year 13, on top of that, I'm going to have 3 biology exams, 2 economics exams and 2 politics exams. For a bit of context, each maths exam is 90 minutes long. As well as doing all of that, I've got to worry about reteaching and resitting the exam that I messed up earlier this month.
If schools that don't do January modules do better, that's nice for them, but don't take the choice away from other schools and if you do have any reliable statistics which support your statement, I'd like to see them. I'd also like to see some information on the removal of year 12 exams, as far as I know that's not true and even if it was, that doesn't change anything for me (that may sound selfish, but it's true).