Mental health and the pressure of exams

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By Anonymous

Year 11 – Sometimes I question the whole education system. The pressure of exams. The complicated and stressful process of memorising quotes, formulas and calculations. For less than 17 exams. Tears and breakdowns were a common sight down corridors and classrooms, with so many students depressed about possible failure.

Last year I was one of the thousands of 15- and 16-year-olds to sit the new 9–1 GCSE exams across the country. For those unaware, this change made the exams much harder. To get a grade 9, you had to score in the top 3% of the country, meaning this grade was much above the previous A*.

Terrified of failure

17 exams. 15 poems. Memorising 3 books. I revised for hours and hours, terrified of potential failure, with pressure to achieve top marks brainwashed into us all from early on.
I was trying to learn Pythagoras, memorise important quotes and take part in complicated science experiments, whilst trying to live. Enjoy being 16. Looking back, that whole year (and indeed my future) seemed balanced on these few exams. That I would be a failure if I didn’t achieve a grade 4.

But I did. Almost a year on, it doesn’t even seem important. I’ve never used anything I learnt in my exams. Circle theorems disappeared quickly from my mind, never to be used again.

People feel stupid

It makes me angry that so many people ‘think’ they are stupid because they ‘fail’ an exam set by adults, who have no experience of what it is like to be a teenager actually sitting those exams.

The dread the night before, the anxious pacing before entering the hall. Lining up. Dead straight. In silence. The horrible moment when your mind goes blank and you want to cry.

‘If you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid.’
– Albert Einstein.

We should learn about mental health

Surely, this isn’t what we should learn in a school. We should learn more about mental health, and ways to reduce stress, in direct contrast to the current system; about treatments, advice and how to support others.

We stress an entire year or two for just a few weeks of exams, answering hundreds of questions, brainwashed into believing we must pass to be successful at life.

Then, for all the anxiety. The panic. The doubt. We get a certificate, celebrating the fact that we could answer the irrelevant questions that we ‘had’ to understand.

For some, celebrations and relief. For others, misery and despair.

Something needs to change

Personally, I think the education system shouldn’t be like this. There should be more focus on BTEC options (which helped me massively), and less focus on 100% exams. Why do we need to sit exams? In reality, if we are stuck with something we will google it or ask for help. Not hold back tears in an exam hall.

Mental health and the current education system are linked massively. I don’t know about you, but I think something needs to change.