A Levels and beyond- how can DD overcome exam related stress to move forward?

[JavaJazz]

DD (18) is taking a gap year after A levels where she did not do herself justice. Despite being bright and academic, and working hard for 18 months, she found the stress of the exams and of the final months' preparation to be overwhelming. As a result she largely stopped working/revising for the last couple of months and achieved lower results than predicted, and too low to get onto the uni course she wants.

She has considered retaking one or two A levels but we both feel that, unless she can find a way to prevent, reduce or manage the sense of stress and overwhelm which comes with the exams, she will just repeat the pattern and not get the right grades. Also, given that uni courses are all assessed via exams, even if she is accepted onto a course she may well experience the same issues at uni and struggle to get results there (which, given the debt required nowadays, would be too risky, as may not enable the kind of career to justify it.) She feels she would enjoy the studying and university environment, it is the exam issues that are the obstacle.

She is now stressing that without further academic qualifications, the better paid job/career paths will not be open to her. Given rising CoL, house prices etc, she is worried about her longer term future (and with data showing relatively higher earnings for female grads vs female non-grads, compared to male grads where the graduate premium is lower, there may be something in this.)

1. Has anyone has similar experience with stress/overwhelm and found ways to successfully reduce or overcome this, to the stage where their DC have been able to move forward with exam based academic qualifications?
2. Or any alternative career paths where these factors would not be an obstacle? It is possible that high pressure environments may also present the same issues of stress and overwhelm (eg teaching, in the current environment) so trying to think of areas to investigate which would be less pressured.

Any thoughts, ideas, advice, experiences welcome!

I'm an accountant, earn a lot of money, never went to uni.

The cheaper (no loans) option nowadays would be aat apprenticeship, then employer sponsorship for chartered status. You could, of course, also self fund for significantly less than the cost of a year at university. I self funded AAT and the first half of my CIMA before moving roles to somewhere with study support. All the while earning good money and getting real life experience.

With 50% (I think?) of kids going to uni in this day and age it's no longer the case that a degree grants you a good salary, and vice versa you can earn a lot without one.

Edit to add- yes I've obviously sat a lot of professional exams HOWEVER, these can be done remotely in a lot of cases, or at exam centres, it won't be in a hall with 150 other students where you're feeling extra pressure which is what I struggled with at school.

given that uni courses are all assessed via exams

That's not the case at all and this is the first thing I would look at (if she is keen to go to uni). What did she want to study? what grades did she get in A levels?

My DD did amazingly in GCSEs but for a number of reasons did a lot less well in A levels than might have been expected; she went from 9s and As to BCC. She got a place through clearing for her desired course of Eng lit; she missed out on Warwick and went to Leicester which I rate highly for a number of factors.

Her entire course was assessed on coursework – essays, some presentations, a dissertation. Long essays, lots of work, but better for her than a shorter exam.

It obvs depends what your DD wants to do but there are certainly courses where assessment is or can be not via exam. DD found her degree tough but manageable and she graduated with a first and a prize for her great final-year marks. The focus on something she loved also helped her excel IMHO.

HTH and all the best to her.

I was also going to make this point that you don't need to go to university to become a qualified accountant - except that the pathway to qualification includes 15 or so exams! Learning to manage exam stress and developing exam technique was a huge part of my development and critical to success. It absolutely is something that can be learned (and I say that as someone with a diagnosed anxiety disorder).

Op, I think you need to sort out how your DD manages stressful situations. She can't go through the rest of her life trying to avoid any kind of pressure or stress - aside from how limiting it will be, that will also make the anxiety/overwhelm bigger by reinforcing its legitimacy. She will just end up avoiding more and more things until her life is tiny. ("If I have had to change the course of my life to avoid exams or any pressure then I must be truly incapable of surviving pressure - therefore it is impossible to try and face.")

Some basic self-help books about managing stress and anxiety would be a good starting point possibly accompanied by some CBT to support her with unpicking her behaviour and putting changes into action to develop strong and healthy habits. She will need to put the work in and face her fears, but it is possible to move forward. Depending on where you live she should be able to self-refer for a short course of CBT on the NHS.

Re alternative assessment methods to exams, I would be careful of underestimating the stress involved. If she has no strategies for managing pressure and stress to the extent that she's also now ruling herself out of any career with pressure too (which frankly is all of them at some point), then I am not sure that is actually a solution.

Presumably she will just do the same thing and put her head in the sand as assessment deadlines approach?

Here are some starting points:

https://help.open.ac.uk/managing-stress

https://www.youngminds.org.uk/young-person/coping-with-life/exam-stress/

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/children-and-young-adults/help-for-teenagers-young-adults-and-students/tips-on-preparing-for-exams/

https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/children-and-young-adults/help-for-teenagers-young-adults-and-students/student-stress-self-help-tips/

https://www.mind.org.uk/for-young-people/feelings-and-experiences/exam-stress/

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/coping-with-exam-pressure-a-guide-for-students/coping-with-exam-pressure-a-guide-for-students

Yes definitely can't avoid exams, however not being in a huge exam hall and being unable to retake exams with your cohort can be a huge part of the stress for some people. With accountancy, knowing you can retake at any time and nobody would know you'd failed, eases that. (Assuming you self fund or have a supportive employer).

You've got some good links and suggestions for how she can start to manage her stress and develop coping strategies but as pp commented there are few careers that don't come with stress and pressures so she really needs to work on that.
What does she want to do? Many courses are not exam based and even those that are the assessments often do not all come at once as with A levels.
I teach on undergraduate and postgraduate courses and there is just one in class exam/test on each. The test is also open book which means students can take in a book because we are checking your ability to use and apply the information, not your ability to remember it. Students are also assessed by means of essays, presentations, reports, portfolios, and performance on work placement. There's not the pressure of having loads of exams at the end of the year because you're assessed per semester and will have had weeks to work on assessments before submission (January and May at my place). My first years for example have three assignments due in January - a presentation and two essays with another three due in May - research report, essay, and a reflective report on their professional standards.
I would advise checking specific courses on UCAS for courses with assessment strategies that would work for her.

I know someone who had a terrible time coping with A-level exams, she would throw up before every exam. She is at university and has purposely picked modules that don't have exams and is doing fine.

A-levels are an odd lot, often relying hugely on memory and uni exams generally aren't nearly as stressful. I know someone else who struggled with exams and was fine with the open book 48 hour exams that are also frequently found at unis. I definitely wouldn't write off university if she wants to go, just research the courses well.

Another idea is for degree apprenticeships, they are competitive to apply for and she will need to demonstrate a genuine interest (plus they aren't available for all subjects). She would need to start applying now for September and apply to a good number to keep her chances of landing one up. They do give you a good insight into the process of applying for grad jobs though and the hoops you have to jump through. Worth doing even if you don't get a place IMO as they make you realise you need more than just qualifications to stand out.

What i wouldn't do is retake A-levels, it's just a miserable thing to do IMO and you're really left on your own to get on with it. She could consider a uni foundation year to up her confidence - it does mean more debt, but might be worth it for her especially if it means she can get onto the course she wants.

What is she interested in doing at uni?

Presumably she will just do the same thing and put her head in the sand as assessment deadlines approach?

This is a valid question @Logistria - and I only have DD as an example but this was not her experience. Yes she found the approaching deadline a challenge, but in a good way; it would spur her on to crack on and do the best work she could. She certainly didn't put her head in the sand – at least not once we sourced the right support at uni. But yes, the question of what @JavaJazz's DD would do is obviously a lot more relevant.

If possible, it might be helpful for your DD to explore why she disengaged in the run up to A level exams. For example, has she placing unrealistic expectations on herself of 'perfect performance'? Or was she struggling from the outset with A levels and the step up they can represent? The answer leads to different solutions.

With respect to degree apprenticeships and degree-level apprenticeships, these rarely avoid exams and typically your employer and work colleagues are absolutely aware you are sitting and have passed, or otherwise, your exams; repeat failure can result in you losing your job; so the pressure is most definitely there to an even greater extent than university.

With respect to degree apprenticeships and degree-level apprenticeships, these rarely avoid exams and typically your employer and work colleagues are absolutely aware you are sitting and have passed, or otherwise, your exams; repeat failure can result in you losing your job; so the pressure is most definitely there to an even greater extent than university.

I agree with this. Also, a single "bad fail" is often enough for employment to be terminated. Never mind the fact that you're working full time whilst revising. You'll get time off to attend courses and the exams, but most of the work has to be done in your own time whilst also meeting performance targets at work. It's not an easy option.

Going back to an earlier pp comments, in accountancy, only the first few exams are available on demand. After that there are fixed exam sittings. Certainly in practice, for practical reasons, everybody in your team will know when your exams are, if you passed or failed, and if you are resitting.

I don't think it would be wise to embark on a training contract/apprenticeship pathway without first addressing what went wrong with A levels and learning more effective coping strategies. I absolutely believe this can be learned though. This doesn't need to be the limiting factor for the rest of her life.

Would it be possible for her to take a level 3 BTech course in the area she wishes to study? This would be a one or two year course and the results are all from coursework. A distinction is the equivalent of three As at A level and accepted by universities, including RG universities, as such. There are also degree courses these days that are completely or almost completely based on coursework.

Would she consider "aiming lower"? By which I mean applying for a less-pressure subject or a less prestigious uni. Obviously what that means depends on what her original uni choice was. But finding the work a little bit easier and the lecturers more helpful so that success comes more easily would likely do wonders for her confidence in life. There is a lot to be said for being a big fish in a small pond.

My daughter struggled with the stress of exams and got into quite a flap last summer too. In the end she did really well but almost didn’t care as she was so busy worrying about having to go back into the school to collect them and didn’t think she could walk through the door without being sick.

She decided over the Summer not to go to the big Russell Group uni she had originally firmed and is now in her second semester at a smaller university. Her course has a mix of coursework and exams but they are more like end of term tests as each semester has an exam in each subject. She sat exams in January without a repeat of the huge anxiety. I don’t know how she’s done yet but it did seem to self correct for her in a different setting and I think she finds it helpful going in with some coursework in the bag and also that it’s more chunked. For her I think it’s become obvious she was hugely unhappy in sixth form and the exams became a part of that whole package. I don’t know if that applies to your daughter.

You'll find not all unis do exams - some offer subject pathways that are more essay based. Try looking at liberal arts programmes as you can choose your subjects each year from different streams. You kind of make up your degree as you go along. Nottingham has a foundation for liberal arts with lower grades. Exeters liberal arts has been going into clearing each year.