Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
EXAM GRADES ANXIETY
Anxious pupils fear they may not be able to get into the university of their choice after it was revealed they will be graded without sitting an exam. Teenagers in Years 11 and 13 were preparing to take their A-levels and GCSES this summer before the Prime Minister last week announced the assessments had been cancelled. It has since been revealed that teachers will instead calculate their grades based on coursework and mock exam results. These will then be scrutinised by exam board Ofqual, which will measure them against prior attainment before ratifying the results.
It hopes to issue the grades before the end of July.
But the measure has been met with trepidation by many, including A-level student Danya Taha.
“Lots of people are worried about not being given their predicted grades because teachers’ assessment isn’t quite the same,” said 17-year-old, who attends Simon Langton School for Girls in Canterbury. “I’ve g got mixed feelings abo out it because I feel I’v ve done quite well acro oss the year, but ther re are times where youy feel you don’t per rform as well as you could have done.
“It do oesn’t really matter whenw you have an e exam at the en nd of it, but with teachers’ assessment your level can change quite drastically depending on the day or the week.
“I definitely would have put more in effort in across the year because I think we all tend to slack as we feel like we can put in effort right at the end.” The teenager, who hopes to study medicine at Edinburgh University, says the truncation of the academic year also stripped her and fellow pupils of traditional final-day celebrations and their summer prom. “It seems trivial but these are the last times that some of us may see each other again because you can’t meet up with 160 different people, even though you still value every single one of them,” she said.
“It would be really lovely to have an event where you can celebrate with each other.” Richard Owen, head of Mapleseden Noakes School in Maidstone, visited every Year 11 pupil and wished goodbye to each of them.
He is now encouraging them to remain as positive as possible. He said: “I have tried to reassure them and I very much see my role as being there to offer support at this time. “There are, naturally, some students who feel very emotional and it is such an unusual situation for them. Many staff also feel anxious too.”