Pupils are being reduced to tears by the tough new GCSE and A-level papers as YouTube star Jade Bowler, 18, records herself sobbing after…
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are being reduced to tears by the tough new GCSE and A-level papers as YouTube star Jade Bowler, 18, records herself sobbing after a gruelling biology exam.
Pupils have been left in tears after sitting tougher GCSEs and A-levels in the biggest exam shake-up in a generation.
Teenagers have had panic attacks, been sick or collapsed exhausted at their desks after exams, with some sitting more than 30 papers.
Teachers say pupils have been left feeling demoralised after being unable to finish papers and failing to understand all the questions.
Reforms mean that around 750,000 teenagers are sitting tougher GCSEs and A-levels this summer.
New GCSEs will be graded 1 to 9, with 9 being the top grade, to allow more differentiation between the highest performing pupils.
The changes were triggered by former education secretary Michael Gove following research showing British pupils were falling behind peers in other countries.
Employers have long complained that youngsters do not leave school with the right skills and campaigners have pointed to a ‘dumbing down’ of the curriculum under the previous Labour government.
But students have criticised the exams on social media, with many saying they left them in tears.
Emma Wickham tweeted: ‘Don’t think I’ve ever cried so much about school till A-levels!! Stressed is not even the word, someone put me out of my misery.’
Kirsty Scott said her history exam ‘was genuinely the hardest one I’ve sat so far’.
Another teen agreed, adding that she had emailed her teacher after being thrown by the questions.
One told how she was being pushed to the brink of a mental breakdown over the exams.
‘Chlo’ wrote: ‘Exams are really getting the better of me almost had a mental breakdown over chromatography saying I’d forgot to revise it and took me 10 mins to remember that’s chemistry..’
Another said: ‘I could cry right now I am absolutely not okay.’
Teachers have told how they have been forced to schedule extra lessons and set additional homework just to cover the new syllabuses.
An English teacher at a west London comprehensive said: ‘I’ve got a girl in my Year 11 class who’s perfectly capable but she’s stopped coming to school because she’s finding it too overwhelming.
‘I have to run two extra one-hour lessons a week at 7.45am. It’s not a refresher or revision class, it’s because we haven’t got through the new syllabus.
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