‘The new GCSEs need to be reviewed’

As a 16-year-old who has just finished the new GCSEs, I can tell you first-hand that they have not been a pleasant experience. Finally having completed all of my 27 exams, I feel I am in a good position to be able to talk about the flaws in the system.

For around three years, the importance of these exams has been drilled into us almost daily. I completely agree that these exams are an invaluable stepping-stone into a future career. However, I think that they shouldn’t have to take over every aspect of someone’s life, and at the moment these two ideas don’t seem to work together.

From high-achievers aiming for Oxbridge to kids who are still struggling with spelling and grammar, we all agree on one thing: these exams are too hard. Not in the sense that the actual content is hard to understand, but that there is too much pressure to get high grades, too much content to learn and a lot of unnecessary memorisation.

One of the biggest problems with the system is the sheer quantity we have to learn for each subject. I’d like to see any education minister try to memorise every type of crime and punishment from the 11th century up until now, or learn what feels like hundreds of physics equations, because I don’t think they could.

Whilst students are being given advice like ‘take a break’ (which is beneficial advice, actually), how easy would you find it to stop working if you had 12 enormous GCSE syllabuses to revise in a few months?

The answer is: not easy. Or in my case, I might take a two-minute breather to humour my mum.

I strongly believe that if there is enough content on a syllabus to contribute to someone’s eyestrain, neck pains and migraines, there is probably too much on the syllabus.

For the last few months, I have also given up my weekend job and playing for my local tennis club, as I felt that I had to dedicate every spare moment to revision.

One of the other major problems with this new system is the amount of memorisation of mundane and pointless quotes, which we will undoubtedly never use again.

Don’t get me wrong; I believe there are massive benefits to having a complex and deep understanding of a book you have been studying, or having the ability to explain the ideas behind a well-known poem (or 15 poems, in our case). But for me, memorising all of it is where I draw the line.

Is it really necessary to be able to quote key phrases from books like Animal Farm or Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde? As a reader, when have you ever needed to directly quote The Tempest?

This parrot-fashion learning will not benefit any 16-year-old in the future. And I can almost guarantee that I have forgotten most of the quotes I learnt already.

On the whole, I don’t think the new GCSEs have done much other than make everyone’s lives a whole lot harder. This includes not only students, but teachers, parents and friends who have probably suffered months of testing worn-out kids, as well as trying to guess what we could be asked about in this baffling new system.

Obviously, exams and revision are meant to be tough. But alongside them, students need to be taught how to cope with stress and pressure, as well as how to build up their resilience.

My personal experience with these GCSEs – ending up on beta-blockers for migraines and stress as a result – shows me these exams aren’t building up resilience in a good way. More in a kind-of ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ way.

I firmly believe that the new GCSEs need to be reviewed, for the sanity of all the Year 11s in the future.

Sophie Frankpitt has just finished studying her GCSEs at the Kings of Wessex Academy in Cheddar, Somerset. In September she will be starting A Levels at Strode College.