The Student Room Group
Perhaps a lot of us are self-critical?
Reply 2
Glutamic Acid
Perhaps a lot of us are self-critical?


Yeah pretty much agree there; was the case for GCSEs (for me, anyway)
Reply 3
^ Ditto.
Reply 4
Kasey101
why does everyone keep saying you will do better than you think in the as level exams? are the examiners very lenient in marking?


It's the same with any exam really, not just AS. Most people find it hard to think optimistically and tend to focus on all the mistakes they made in the exams. When it comes to results day, many are surprised by how well they have done because they set themselves up for failure. So when people say you will do better than you think, they are not referring to the examiners being lenient, but rather you have probably misjudged your exam performance.
Reply 5
brown
It's the same with any exam really, not just AS. Most people find it hard to think optimistically and tend to focus on all the mistakes they made in the exams. When it comes to results day, many are surprised by how well they have done because they set themselves up for failure. So when people say you will do better than you think, they are not referring to the examiners being lenient, rather that you have probably misjudged your exam performance.


well said brown, wont' disagree with any of that.
It's mainly because students tend to automatically focus on all the things they did wrong and all the things they left out, ie the negatives, rather than all the things they put in and did right, ie the positives. This seems to intensify the closer it gets to results day, and because it's also getting further away from the time of sitting the exams, it's harder to remember how you actually did. So even if you felt really good after the exam, you can end up feeling quite badly about it a month or so later. It could also be because, consciously or not, students try to convince themselves they've done worse than they actually have to avoid disappointment.
Reply 7
That was true for me because I didn't realise how low some of the grade boundaries were. I thought it'd be a lot harder to get an A than it was, and that was the same for a lot of my friends for AS levels.
Reply 8
I always think pessimistically; I can't help it. I think that's why I was so surprised (in a very happy way) with my GCSE results last year.
Reply 9
Kasey101
why does everyone keep saying you will do better than you think in the as level exams? are the examiners very lenient in marking?

They say it because it wasn't them that sat the exam and they don't know all the mistakes you made.

It annoys me when people tell me "you'll have all A's" and when I protest (as I know for a fact that I completely messed up a couple of my exams) I just get - "yeah, yeah, don't be so pessimistic".

I am realistic, not pessimistic!!!
brown
It's the same with any exam really, not just AS. Most people find it hard to think optimistically and tend to focus on all the mistakes they made in the exams. When it comes to results day, many are surprised by how well they have done because they set themselves up for failure. So when people say you will do better than you think, they are not referring to the examiners being lenient, but rather you have probably misjudged your exam performance.


:dito:
:ditto: as well.

I am an intolerable pessimist, probably more pessimistic than anyone else put together :s-smilie: I guess pessimists have a win-win situation though; if you do a bit badly, you have less disappointment, if you do well, you have a pleasant surprise...
Aim low and you cant be dissapointed.
Reply 13
I think the majority of people are their own worst critics, and don't actually realise just how good they are in a given subject. People know this subconsciously and say 'You'll have done better than you think'.:smile: