Revision & Exams

GCSEs and A-levels
The big ones. GCSEs, followed by A-Levels and Vocational Qualifications – and later, there are HNDs, degrees and lifelong learning. Exams never really come to an end unless you give up formal education, altogether. A lot of children would leap at the chance, but they don’t have the choice. They’re obliged to take GCSEs, when they reach Year 11, Key Stage 4.

Sympathy? I’m a parent, so I know. Children don’t want sympathy (although that’s far better than no sympathy). What they want is to be left alone so they can forget all about exams, and then just pass them, preferably, without actually sitting them. In fact they’d prefer not to talk about them all all – Buffy or Final Fantasy 9 are much more appealing.

Once they’ve overcome the petulance, children enter a kind of dull resignation. They understand that these exams stand between them and the rest of their lives, so it’s a matter of tackling the barrier with as much skill and resilience as possible.