Anyone else thinks A-Levels/GCSEs are too much stress?

[crazycatmum42069]

My daughter has been working at A/A since the start of year 12 and is now doing A-Levels, but has cried after every single one thinking she’s failed and saying that they were so much harder than all the past papers she’s done! I don’t put any pressure on her to get A grades, yet she still has refused and been too stressed to do anything fun for the past 2 months because she feels ‘guilty’ that she isn't revising. It’s upsetting to see how motivated and determined she was to get 3 As but after sitting some exams already, she feels like she’s going to get AAB at best and is now completely unmotivated to revise for the rest of the exams as she thinks that (even with loads of revision) they’ve all gone terribly. Hopefully this is all in her head and she’s done better than she thinks!

Personally I think the system is wrong, you could be consistently getting top grades for 2 whole years and then feel sick the day of the exam and drop down a few grades, it’s ridiculous! Way too much stress on kids nowadays, I don’t remember being this stressed at that age (but then again I am old 😂)

Anyways, only time will tell once results day comes around. I hope all your children doing GCSEs / A-Levels at the moment are doing well! So close to summer 🤗

Oops, meant to say 3 A stars, don’t know why it made the text bold!

I don't massively think the A-levels themselves are too pressured, but young people are now told over and over they need to get amazing grades or life is over.

The reality is your DD could drop quite a bit and still get onto a decent degree course. Just keep reassuring her that if she tries her best you'll be proud, and that you'll help her sort it out whatever the outcome.

The whole process is stressy and I do think schools and colleges are like hothouse pressure factories. There’s much to do and just 2 yrs to do it in for A levels/GCSE’s

DD is sitting her GCSEs and doesn't seem stressed at all. She's fed up of them, but not stressed. She's always been a reviser and never crams so think this helps matters somewhat.

A-Levels are potentially a different kettle of fish though, I'll find out soon enough.

If it's any comfort or help to you and your dad I am a retired experienced A level teacher and I found year after year it was the students who came out of the exam who said it was too hard, they've done terribly, that often did really well while the students who said it was ok or easy hadn't done as well. Often the students who were still writing at the end with loads more they wanted to say ended up with As but all they could think of when they came out of the exam was ..I didn't get it finished. The ones who came out with half an hour to spare often didn't do as well.
Of course this isn't always the case but if she is a hard worker who has been predicted good grades and has done her revision she will probably be fine.

DD ..dear daughter ...not dad. 😱

Honestly? No. By 18 kids should have developed some resilience to what is a perfectly normal event. Yes it's stressful, but many things in life are - and I fully recognise the impact of Covid on young people's MH, but no, they're not too much stress. For most, they're the right amount of stress.

@crazycatmum42069 , it's worse for A levels this year because the students haven't taken GCSEs so don't have the resilience to know a "bad" exam can lead to a good result. It's impossible for the schools, unis and exam boards to know where the grade boundaries will lie this year so best to tell her to keep working and fingers crossed for the results. What is expected is that the same number of A stars, A B Cs etc will be given out as in 2019 and this means at least 25% of all grades will be A star and A. Plus the uni's still need to fill their places so it's hoped they will show leniency to a dropped grade.

A lot of the tears are a release of adrenaline following the exams. I cried after all my exams, didn’t mean I did badly just my body’s way of coping.

It’s a stressful experience for sure but I expect she’s done OK.

Life is stressful so it’s about building resilience to cope with it and not basing her self worth entirely on whether she got an A** in Chemistry. If you think she needs help to build resilience talk to her about that, but she sounds like she’s having a fairly normal response to a stressful life event.