To be cross that DD in year SEVEN has come home with an exam timetable?

[MaureenMLove]

There's nothing like piling on the pressure, eh? All of year 7's are doing progress tests next week and she has come home with an EXAM timetable. She's panicking now.

My school have also piled on the pressure for yr 7's to revise for them. Surely the whole point of progress tests is to see what they can do, not what they can do on the day because they've revised. Surely if they remember things just because its fresh in their minds, they'll put them in the wrong sets, because the teachers think they can do it and then they struggle. Great way to boost a kids confidence!

Its the bloody 11+ all over again.

i did exams in every subject from the age of four

i didnt feel pressured

i liked it

and we were expected to revise too

Freeek!

I did yearly exams thrughout secondary school
It taught me how to revise and by the time GCSEs came around I was completely unfazed
My dsis wrnt to a different school, never had exams until mock gcse's she never got the hang of revising at all

Don't all schools do end-of-year exams? My boys have them and have their timetables stuck up so they know what they have to revise.

well yes i am as every fule kno

the point of that post was to say don't be cross be proud that your dd is getting an early experience of exams

Well if she has an exam timetable, its a good thing really because then you know which day each exam is on and you can help her to prepare. Revision is good, because otherwise she may well forget things and not do as well as she could.

Yes our year 7s do exams too - we even call it exam week - all the years do end of year assessments. Setting is based on how they have done throughout the year though, not just on the tests.

I had exams twice a year every year from age 7 onwards.

I have never heard of a secondary school that didn't have exams.

Our students have 4 modular departmental tests (that take an hour) a year and an end of term exam.

We need some way of minitoring progress in a fair and comperable way.

They need to learn how to revise! It is a life skill YABsomewhatU

Put it in context by all means, but the school needs to test.

And the more she revises the better she will remember stuff.

I think it is really important that children are taught how to pass exams - exam technique and revising can make a huge difference to results. Why would anyone not want their child to learn how to put in their best performance on the day and to secure the best result that they can?

Year 7 is hardly young - these are 12 yo children! More than capable of learning the importance of revision and preparation!

it's only pressure if there are big consequences for failure (like the 11+). exams per se are fine - good revision practice.

Oh! Seems i am being a little unreasonable, but thanks for not actually saying!

OK, I'll make an effort and make sure she knows all about personfication, triples & onamatapea(sp?) (she might even know how to spell it!) for her English test!

LOL - MB bet me to it!

don't forget alliteration and metaphors too

ds has had one for Year 5 ! We also got a booklet giving details of the topics to revise for each subject.

lol at the english! all the poetry terms come at KS4 in exams: in Y7 she'll more than likely be given some boring bit of tat to read and answer questions about it, SAT-styley.

ooo and some writing as well - not creative or imaginative, mind but likely to be writing to advise or persuade

Also year 7 and 8 exams VG for helping pupils get used to the Exam Hall situ - all those rows and rows of desks, entry in silence, put hand up and wait if you need something etc. Helps make the real exams feel a bit less intimidating IMo.

Oh and not talking to each other and disturbing the kids who are still working. they need to practice this too!

OK, I concede that I am being PFB! God knows why, she left primary with levels 4 & 5!

At our school each department just does its own thing. Some do tests every term or formal exams towards the end of the year, but some don't do assessments of that sort at all. There certainly is no timetable.

I had termly exams in every subject when I was at secondary school: showing my age now.

DD came home today with exam timetable she's in year 6 - all years from years 3 -7 are timetabled on it.

She doesn't feel pressured.

We had end of year exams in every subject too. It's true, if you're used to them, GCSE's and A-levels aren't anywhere near as stressful.

We had exams timetabled for every year at secondary school. I'm pretty sure we had exams after Christmas and in the summer for all subjects.