I am not against exams. I have taken more exams than anyone would want to, both academic and vocational, and I have no regrets. I quite enjoy preparing for exams, as long as they don’t contain any maths. Also, my job includes helping students to prepare for exams. However, I think we need to think and talk about exams carefully.
Let’s think about GCSEs and A Levels here**. Like many people, I have my own views about testing primary age children and about entrance exams to secondary schools, and those are subjects for another time.
These exams test all sorts of things. Knowledge, of course. Time management. Accuracy – including reading the question correctly. The ability to think with agility in all sorts of ways. The skill of thinking and working under pressure. Preparation, mental toughness and emotional resilience.
There are, however, skills that are not tested so well by exams. Research, deep concentration on one subject for an extended period, teamwork, empathy, resourcefulness. I could make the list much longer. Some students will excel in skills that they cannot show off in exams, and this might result in them feeling less successful.
Working under pressure is an important consideration. Some jobs and life situations present a lot of pressure, but not all. Even within professions such as medicine, law and engineering, some career paths are accompanied by much higher pressure than others. And not all pressure is the same. For example, I do well under exam pressure. In my Law exams, both written and practical, my marks were consistently high. However, I did not enjoy the pressure of appearing in court at all, once qualified. Even though I had passed all my exams with high marks. Different people thrive under different sorts of pressure.
Our standardised exams are designed to test the same things in all students, throughout the country and beyond. This would be fine if human beings were all made the same, like cars or coffee machines. But we are not. We are a wonderful variety of qualities and talents, each of us with something slightly different to offer. It’s such a pity that many of these qualities and talents cannot be highlighted by GCSEs and A Levels, and many students feel they are less successful simply because they don’t fit into the prescribed mould.
Exams have their place, and it’s wonderful to do well. However, to borrow a Shakespearean phrase, we should not see them as the be all and the end all.
** In the UK, students take GCSE exams in a number of subjects (often around ten) at about 15 or 16. Two years later, students who are continuing to pursue an academic path take A Level exams in three or four subjects, typically as preparation for university.
