I know that this is going to be different for a lot of people that read this and completely irrelevant to others, but today marks the end day of my January exams! I'm not going to claim to know how the American (or any other nationality for that matter) exam system works, but here in England you do A levels which are made up of (usually) 2 AS exams that you sit in year 12 when you're 16/17 that count for half a qualification and 2 A2 exams that you sit in year 13 when 17/18 which complete the qualification. Now, as I've mentioned before, I am currently 19 and redoing one year of my A levels. I'm not going to go into it but I'm doing two AS levels and one A2. THIS IS NOT IMPORTANT. I am moving on!
So we can sit exams in January and Summer and today, I sat an economics exam which was the last exam that I will have to do until around Mayish time. I must say, whatta relief!
This January, I only had to sit two exams - one biology and one economics - but I have been revising for them for ages! I'm not going to pretend that I revised as much as I should have, but I did a fair amount and would be happy if I never saw a diagram of photosynthesis ever again.
Which is what the point of this post begins to play its part.
For weeks, we sit and we revise for exams that we are forced to sit which will give us a grade from a set of questions that were set for every single person in the room. Now, I don't think that is very fair. I don't know what an alternative to exams could be, but to test everyone in exactly the same just seems so unfair! Well when I say it like that, it sounds pretty stupid, but if you consider that everyone thinks and works and operates in a different way, then to say that we should then treat them all in the same way and test them on the same paper seems ludicrous. Ignoring for a moment the fact that how well you do really does depend on how you're feeling that day, I find it strange that we still have an education system that seems ridiculous. The amount of exam boards, for a start, is insane. In England there are about a million different companies that can be the makers of the exam board you sit and the school decides which board that school will test with. Surely, if you're going to test everybody in the same way, there should be one exam board, one exam? For example, my biology exam was with Edexcel. Well that's all very well and good but what if I had studied the AQA biology course? That may have been more suitable for me and I may have come out with a better grade in exactly the same qualification. Their paper may have been 'easier' than ours and so all the hours I put into revising may get me a really bad mark on the paper I did sit, whereas I may have got a really good mark if were to have sat another paper? I just don't think it's fair. If you're going to make every student sit the paper, then make them sit the SAME paper. That way, when I am competing for a university place or a job or whatever and the person next to me says "Yeah buddy, I got an A in biology" and I'm there saying "Awh man, that sucks because I failed epically" I'm not then saying "So what exam board did you do? Ohhh it was really easy? That sucks because my exam was really hard".
And I know that there is always the "you get what grade you earn" argument, but all I'm saying that I think there should be one unanimous exam board that the entire country sit with. So there.
And then there is resits. Now, I am all for resits. I know that a lot of adults are moaning that exams are getting easier and it's not like it was in their day and bla bla blaaa. Whatever. You know what? I work bloody hard for the exam results that I get and no, they're not as good as I would have hoped them to be so you sitting there saying that exams are bloody easy these days is not valid. You sit and put in hours and hours of revision and then come out with a crappy grade and listen to someone say how "easy" the exam must have been. See how much it cheers up your day. I digress slightly, but my point is that everyone can have a bad day. You can work for weeks for an exam and then completely flunk it but resit it and pass with flying colours because maybe you were in a better mood, less nervous, had more sleep, didn't have an argument with your parents that morning, hadn't lost something and spent ages looking for it. Whatever the reason, external factors can put you off and you could bomb an exam you should have, by all rights, passed. In England they're stopping resits next year and I think that it's completely unfair, even though it won't make a difference to me - I will still be able to resit the exams I did this week in Summer if I fail them.
I just don't think it's very fair to give someone one single shot at something that, if failed, could actually really change their lives. If I hadn't been able to resit this year, I wouldn't have a place at university and I genuinely don't know what I would have done. Give us a break, people!
In other news :
I got some more birthday presents from my incredible friends and just want to share to of them with you .
My incredible TARDIS mug from my incredible best friend in all the world, Miss Kathleen Rose. The girl knows me so well.
And an equally as amazing and much loved book of Gene Hunt wit and wisdoms from another darling friend of mine, Miss Evie Rose, who I love with all my heart.
And in other news, I have started another blog that is dedicated to music because I didn't want this blog to get overcrowded with Music posts because music is such a big part of my life. Each day, I will post about my song of the day - it's a pretty self-explanatory concept really. The link can be found in my "connect to me" (or whatever it's called!) section that can be found in my pages down the right hand side of my page. Or, if you're lazy and fancy a link, it can be found right here!
See. I did the hard work for you.
I hope that all those that had/have exams did well or do very well indeed!
Until next time,
M x
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