Exam Meltdown

In the Epsom area, as in many regions across the country, thousands of students are studying for all sorts of exams – from SATs to GCSE’s to A-levels and beyond. Year on year the pressure seems to increase on younger people.

This is a combination of changing the syllabus of exams, increased fear of the future with job shortages and unemployment as well as peer pressure with its social media comparisons.

The exam syllabus for all different exams changes all the time depending on the Government and the minister in power. In one decade grammar is rejected as unnecessary and several decades later it is brought back in, while leaving generations with a gap in their knowledge. At times it seems on a whim that educational demands are changed. However, it is the students who suffer from both the change in the content and style of teaching. Methods alter, the length of a course is modified and the school student’s life becomes stressful.

As for fear of the future, the negatives of the housing market, the limited job market and a rise in household bills are enough to cause tension in anyone. There is an element that these problems have always existed but today any positive train of thought that you can fight through these obstacles is squashed. You are told that the only way to win through is to gain the best exam results which results in a good university place and then a very well paid job. No pressure at all.

With the growth of social media sites such as Instagram and Snapchat, there is the risk of constantly seeing what others are doing. It is human nature to compare what you are doing with someone else. Usually a student may think they are doing less work or not the right thing and then they begin their spiral downwards. Social media can be of great help - questions and answers can go backwards and forwards very quickly and help enormously. Equally, emotional support can be given to many others suffering in the same way. If only teenagers can learn to dismiss the trivia and use the positives, it would be a lot better.

Schools across Surrey and Sutton try to relieve exam pressure. Mindfulness is a popular tool at the moment and tries to get the student to think for the present and not fear the next day. With mental health issues amongst adolescents becoming a major cause for concern, something has to be done. For many at the moment, survival is the most important thing.

Good luck to all those taking exams. Keep calm and dream of that last day of exams.

By Julia Woods, Sutton High School