h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Hey all,
just complaining about exams. i know there one of the few ways to test someone but really. the stree they put on people is enormous. And many young people get to feeling like "whats the point" and then they don't bother to do any revision and they end up screwing up their exams. And we all know once you've got no exam results then you've got no chance in getting a decent job. is this the govements fault, or is it just human nature?
The problem of course will be, soon, so many people will be getting good exam marks due to helpful teachers etc, that these exam results will appear to be to easy to get and they won't be counted at anything. The truth is ofcourse that to get decent marks these poor kids are getting terribly depressed and some are even sucidle. it may seam over the top but i don't think adults understand how stressful it is for young people these days. Coursework is fairly new and great for people who don't like actual exams. But the stress of getting it in by the deadlines. ok i'm going to stop boaring you lot now.
Lord Preston OMFC

I completely and utterly understand this situation. Are you doing exams? (Well, you probably are, given that the people who seem to be the most STRESSED about exams are the people who are doing them.Stupid thing to say, sorry about that.) But as soon as students realise that, in the event that they don't pass, they will not be over shadowed by the presence of immense, ugly looking yellow space ships/the end of the world (A name for a country and western song if ever there was one)!!!
The way to getting decent marks in exams isn't easy. But everyone knows that. The people who do get good marks either: a.)are obsessed,
b.)Have very helpful/scary parents/teachers wanting a lot out of them, or c.)are confident, have a REASONABLE target grade, and most importantly are calm. Of course this is not true for everyone, which is probably something to do with the scary teacher/parent thing.
Education is for life. It is not life itself. That is something wholly different.

Hey,
you make really good points of course but if you don't get good exam results then you can't get the best jobs and then u can't go on holiday and stuff. i want a good life 4 my future family as well myself.
The pressure teachers put on you as well because they want to get the grades so they get a bonus or whatever. And then your parents, ahh your parents. they want the best for you, but they just don't understand motivational skills, or tact.
Anyway, have to go and revise German.
Lord Preston OMFC

I'm not sure which exams you are taking, but there is a little help here on the Guide.
A/S Levels are explained here
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A544538
and the conversation threads contain a discussion from the students and the teachers viewpoint.
I've written a page of links to revision sites for AS and A Levels, although most will have a GCSE pae too:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A545078
and added a separate page for Psychology in particular linked from that entry.
Good Luck!

thanx i'm sure the'll help,
i actualy don't think there is anything wrong with the education, i just think that there is a lot of pressure on the young.
Lord Preston OMFC

i'm doing my gcses at the moment, and i'm perfectly calm about them. i spose that could be partly because i got good mock grades. in fact, i ought to be doing some revision now... never mind. later.
call me strange (no doubt you will) but i actually enjoy some exams, like maths, and orals once you get down to them, and even english (ugh! i hate english!). and french and spanish i like too.
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HI,
as an official ace i'm not allowed to call you strange, but i'm thinking it!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/U48485
go to this link or maybe just reply to me now and tell me what you think of our editor MARK MOXON
LORD PRESTON OMFC

um...not sure?
i dunno, there's nothing nasty to say about him, but i don't encounter him that often, so i really dunno.

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Well, this is he:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A489909

Who is that ancient old fish he's talking to?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A489882

The Mark Moxon formation snogging team!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/h2g2/guide/A489891

Wow, that's a mighty fine slection of pics there, Cleba. Chocolate, cats and angels -ace!In reply to Lord Preston's comment about wanting a good future for his family,I don't think you really should worry about that (Oh no, unless you really have got a family in the near future in which case I apologise. Shall I pull my foot out of my mouth now?) take one step at a time.
On the ubject of teenage suicide (Just trying to cheer you guys up there!) That may well be a manifestation of depression in various forms, not necessarily linking back to exams. Teachers however, although they are harsh, I'm beginning to think that they are putting so much pressure on students simply because a.)they can, and b.)they use that to great effect because, well, yes they probably do want high marks for the school, but they are likely to be directing this at students who just can't be bothered! (a bit like me!)
I'm off to catch babel fish now. (Well, doing biology, anyway.) Maybe I'll look at that Mark Moxon thingummy...

" A manifestation of wha wha what?!" crimeny, what a show off. You can tell I'm an englishy arty person. Thus, I see your side of thing Cleba. Some exams are...okay, I guess.

um, i've just had my spanish reading and writing, which means there's nothing left to do for my spanish gcse, and the papers were easier than i expectde. there's no reason to be worried about hard papers either, because the grade boundaries will be lower for harder papers.
anyway, nobody worry or i'll shot them. there we go, that should sort it
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think urself lucky coz i had a German reading and listening exam. it was reallly hard, and the grade boundries won't change just coz they gave us hard questions. even our teacher said it was hard.
Lord Preston OMFC

the grade boundaries depend on how well everyone doing that exam did. if almost everyone got at least 80% then they wouldn't give all thos people As or A*s because the have to balance it out. if it was a really hard paper and the highest mark was 60% then that would be an A* for the simple reason it was the highest mark. so sorry, but your teacher's wrong.
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I have long been under the impression that the current exams system is not only stressful but stupid and ineffective.

Most exams are memory-tests. To "revise" the pupil/student spends several days memorising information in the hope that some of it will be the answer to some of the questions. If they guessed right, or have a good enough memory, they pass, if not they fail. Most of what was "learned" before the exam is forgotten soon after the exam has been sat. The pupil/student only really has the chance to apply what they did learn in class if they are employed - as a result of passing the exam.

Like so many things, people are simply used to the current system, as "this is the way it's always been" And besides - remove the current exam system and what validity do all those A's and B's on your CV have? Best keep things the way they are, nudge wink.

So instead of removing the current "memory-test" system and replacing it with exams based on the application of knowledge (as some exams actually are based and I am not, of course, knocking those) we get the familiar news stories of kids going mad with revision and stuffed shirts claiming the exams are getting too easy (in fact, the questions being asked are probably getting easier to predict and therefore the students know what to memorise).

Just some food for thought

*claps enthusiasticly*
a man who knows what he's talking about. keep that ol' brain ticking and u could come up with some great stuff. (not that that stuff wasn't amazing already )
Lord Preston OMFC

Back in 1989 my Finals nearly killed me - it took me at least ten years to recover, if I have - last week I had an exam nightmare, admittedly the first in over a year.

Memory tests are a stupid and pointless way of assessing performance. I like the BTEC assessment model, where good students who perform consistently get good grades.

As for A levels being a "gold standard," I answered all the questions in my Physics A level retake, crossed out the ones I was leased pleased with and still left the hall half an hour before the end of one exam. I scored A*.

The exam system also allowed me to get away with sitting back for two years at school doing nothing, and nobody really found out until I produced dismal results in my first se of A levels.

All in all, the only reason we still have exams is that the people who run the country, civil servants, all succeeded under the examinations system, so don't perceive its flaws - or worse, believe them to be strengths, as they weed out those who "can't perform under pressure" (what taurean faeces that is).

im a child sort of and ive been killed by friggin as's

u shouldn't frig as's ur meant to do the exam. lol
Lord Preston OMFC

i like exams...

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