Exams aren't fit for purpose

[littlequestion]

I have two DC and both are doing exams - one A levels and one GCSEs. The older only had a few, low-key exams for his GCSEs so this is the first time for proper exams in my house.

I honestly can't believe how dreadful, stressful and ultimately pointless these exams are - they are not fit for purpose.

The amount of content they have to learn is insane. What on earth is the point of learning 15 poems almost off by heart? What skill does that teach? Most importantly, how is it useful for life?

My other bugbear is that the exams just don't give them enough time. If you've studied a subject in massive depth for two years, why not give candidates enough time to write a considered essay instead of having to rush it and decide what are going to leave out? Why not give them enought time to check their work?

That's what I do in my job - I don't just dash something off and hope for the best. I don't mean exams shoiuld take half a day, but an extra half-hour of planning/ checking time built in would make the world of difference.

Yes but if grade boundaries are compressed due to a very hard exam it means the range for each grade is tiny. You can end up 2 grades down due to a tiny difference in %. It's not good to have grade boundaries compressed. It artificially creates significant differences in grades for insignificant differences in scores

Which is why you need a graduated paper with easy, medium and hard marks so all students can show what they can do.

Students can show what they can do no matter what exam they take. I’m concerned that the filtering of who takes the easy, medium, or hard exam will be overly subjective and subject to racial, classist and ableist bias thus shunting children from disadvantaged backgrounds to “easy” exams and a good grade in an “easy exam” will be worth less than a low grade on a “hard exam” will it not? That is how graduated systems work, it’s what we already have with the language GCSEs. This will then put in an iron ceiling and affect these children’s life chances for higher education.