As the school year advances the pressure of exams is pressed even further into the minds of students in years 10 through 13. While the practice of their exams does prepare those participating for the stressful reality of actually taking the tests, is the stress the teachers and parents put upon these students actually necessary?
Anyone who knows someone in these years knows the amount of work that is put into learning and revising the required material for the mock exams, but is it absolutely necessary to do this when there is no absolute academic benefit for these exams? It is understandable that the earlier statement has been proven false since the beginning of the pandemic, but even before and now- as the world slowly recovers from Covid- if mock exams have no correlation to final results are students actually needed to complete them? While they do help teachers under what students are struggling to understand in their courses and provide students with the chance to reflect upon their time management skills and respond to the feedback from teachers, there is little benefit for the students from this stressful time after around 2 months.
Mock exams should represent more than just what grade a student is at. They should show how enthusiastic the pupils are and highlight their abilities in the subject. Some could argue that they already do this, however it is something only made aware to students after they have completed multiple mocks and is not a requirement for schools to actually advise those who clearly do not thrive in the subject to change to something that would allow them to be the best they can be.
Exams have always been viewed as the most important part of education and each stage of learning has always ended in an extended period of tests that last for multiple hours and often cause hand cramps that are rarely experienced anywhere else. Although the final exams are important and should continue to be a vital tool for assessing students, but to become the ultimate assistant in helping to understand every pupil’s progress the stress and pressure should be taken away, allowing students to focus on doing themselves proud instead of a target to achieve the best grade, which for many would be unrealistic.
Although there are benefits of the mock exams- especially for teachers, the amount of stress they throw upon young people is not truly needed when it has little to contribute to their final grade. Unless there is a change to the education, students are left to question if mock exams are truly unavoidable and unerring.
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