A-Level Exams In This Heat

[PersianCatLady]

Hi,

My DS (17) has just left the house to go to school to sit one of his A-Level exams and I am really concerned about this heat.

He has just told me that the room they sit their exams in has no windows and there is no A/C or fans.

AIBU to be concerned about the kids who am sitting exams today and the effect that this heat will have on them and their results??

Thanks

It's rotten for them.
For the meanies a levels are not just a day in an office and many students will have travelled on hot public transport to get to them. School buildings aren't often designed for this heat.

Op, once in the exam, hopefully he will forget how uncomfy he is. Apart from appropriate clothes and iced water there isn't much that can be done about it. I'm grateful dd finished her as exams before the hest built.

Not sure why people have to be sarcastic on threads like this even if it is AIBU.

OP, my ds has two exams today. I wish it was cooler for him, and for them all, and that it was easier to sleep. My dd has just finished university, so we have had years of public exams in June and this week is far and away the worst, really unusual temperatures and lots of A level papers this week.

I am not sure I have ever done anything as gruelling as exam week in temperatures above 30 and have managed OK with adult life.

My DS is due to sit and exam tomorrow when it is due to be hot and humid. He has form for passing out in hot and stuffy rooms - even if sitting down! I will be keeping my fingers crossed he copes with the exam in that heat - even though he is no longer a child!

Not sure why people have to be sarcastic on threads like this even if it is AIBU

Think the heat is getting to them

It is rotten but kids in hotter countries are also sitting the same exams now too. I taught in the Middle East and not all schools had air conditioning. It's bloody expensive to run air conditioning in a large hall. Many schools will only have fans. It's true you do get acclimatised to hot weather but it doesn't make it that much easier.

In the heatwave of 2003 when temperatures topped 38c for two weeks I was doing my lpc exams (law school).

I did very well despite sweltering heat during revision.

This is barely touching 30c get a grip and by thursdsy it will be 23c.

I am so glad that the majority of you have said that I am not being unreasonable.

Obviously I know that he has just got to deal with it but if he doesn't get at least one B and two Cs then he won't get a place on his uni course.

Just a few lost marks on one paper could be the difference between a C and a B and that could mean that all of his plans will have to change.

My dd16 had to sit most of her gcse exams this year whilst suffering badly with hay fever. We're talking itchy streaming eyes and nose, with lots of sneezing. Maybe I should've started a thread about it...

Being concerned, showing sympathy and empathy for people who might find this heat hard work or for teens who's concentration might be dulled because sleeping is harder - especially since many of them might already be very stressed about the exams anyway, is not mollycoddling or babying them it's simply being concerned for your child.

I actually don't believe that many of the posters saying it's tough luck they have to suck it up, would not have asked their teenager if they were ok this morning, reminded them to take plenty of water, and wished them luck while keeping their fingers crossed that they do ok in this melting heat.

I picked my teens up today because I wasn't busy and the car is air conditioned, and it was a nice thing to do for them. They didn't ask or moan about the heat. Just because they are almost adults doesn't mean you can't do nice things for them for no reason.

My gran who raised me died the day before my GCSE exams, it was 30 degree weather (like now) with windowless exam rooms, and I was having panic attacks. Still got all As and A stars though and that was nearly twenty years ago. I'm sure your DC will be just fine.

Ds's schools have air con units which they use for exam time when it's gets really hot ,makes a huge difference especially if it's a long exam. Really helps kids with hayfever too, I've been running ds down to school in the car with air con on full blast so he's not a big sneezy mess before going in.

My gran who raised me died the day before my GCSE exams, it was 30 degree weather (like now) with windowless exam rooms, and I was having panic attacks. Still got all As and A stars though and that was nearly twenty years ago. I'm sure your DC will be just fine.

Yes but you are you. That's like saying I had the most violent, horrendously abusive upbringing but I'm fine and it doesn't affect me now so everyone else who had a crap upbringing should also be fine and stop moaning about it.

We are individuals, we react and behave differently to situations. Just because you were fine doesn't mean other people in the same situation would have been.

My dd left this morning dosed up with antihistamine for hay fever, painkillers for her hip condition, the heat is not what she needs right now.

@nokidshere - surely the need to raise resiliant kids like me and the young Spanish girl who sat her GCSE in her pyjamas the morning after the Grenfell fire, is better than coddling them to the point of ineffectiveness?

nokidshere - surely the need to raise resiliant kids like me and the young Spanish girl who sat her GCSE in her pyjamas the morning after the Grenfell fire, is better than coddling them to the point of ineffectiveness?

Of course, but no one is saying they are going to kick up a fuss or pull their child out. Showing concern and kindness is not coddling.

Sometimes in life, conditions are sub optimal. You have an exam, a job interview, a major work deadline or presentation and it is too hot, or too cold, or the neighbours kept you awake, or your hayfever's playing up, or you have a stomach ache, or your boyfriend's just dumped you. And you cope, because you have to. It's just life.

I agree wholeheartedly groupie

Sometimes in life, conditions are sub optimal. You have an exam, a job interview, a major work deadline or presentation and it is too hot, or too cold, or the neighbours kept you awake, or your hayfever's playing up, or you have a stomach ache, or your boyfriend's just dumped you. And you cope, because you have to. It's just life.

Again, of course. But that doesn't mean that those people in those situations can't be shown some kindness and concern.

Obviously I know that he has just got to deal with it but if he doesn't get at least one B and two Cs then he won't get a place on his uni course.

If he cant scrape a B and 2 Cs I think there is more to blame than a few days of heat.

Of course YANBU, OP. Parents should be 'concerned', and if there are things we can do to make things a little easier for our kids at what for some of them really is a crucial, life-defining time, then of course we do it. DH is just off now to pick up our DD from an A level rather than her spending over an hour on a hot bus - she's got another exam tomorrow and one on Friday.

There have been plenty of other opportunities in her life for building both physical and mental resilience!

FFS some of you, the OP wasn't saying the exams should be deferred or anything ridiculous like that.

I sat my O'levels the 'hot summer' of '77. Yes it was uncomfortable but lived to tell the tale. DC will be OK, tell them to take a bottle of water with them.

If he cant scrape a B and 2 Cs I think there is more to blame than a few days of heat.

How incredibly rude and nasty of you.

Some children put in a massive amount of effort and won't get the grades they want whilst others get A* without breaking a sweat.

Errol, you've made me feel guilty, dd is getting the bus

Exams commonly take place in big sports halls (Hence the reason why no windows/AC). They have firedoors and generally the hall in itself stays pretty cool throughout day! I wouldn't worry

I love this.