Waiting for exam results is a stressful time for anyone. But for those 16 to 18-year-olds who have been reading the newspapers recently, the wait for this year’s GCSE and A-level results has been made even more depressing by the constant claims of exams being “dumbed down” for students. Here 16-year-old Elena Gillies, a former pupil at The Towers Convent in Upper Beeding, who is awaiting the outcome of 12 GCSEs, describes how disheartening it is to spend years preparing for exams only to have people dismiss the grades you worked so hard to achieve.

It has been a week of misery for any 16 to 18-year-old who has been reading the papers. Well, certainly for those of us who can actually read (which, according to numerous newspapers, is not all that many).

In anticipation of the looming announcement of A-level and GCSE results over the course of the next week countless people who took exams back in the days of O levels have seen it as their duty to impress upon us all that these grades, whatever they may be, are next to worthless because to get an A or an A* is about as complex as catching a bus.

Three A-levels at A grade is best met with sniggers and loud cries of “Dear goodness! With grades like that I daresay you not only turned up to the exams but actually wrote a page on your subject? Quick, notify Oxbridge before they know what they’re missing!”

But perhaps I’m over-exaggerating.

You see, as far as I can tell, the education system has hit a dead end and in the process has taken this generation with it.

I think we can all agree that students can only do as well as the current system allows.

It is really difficult for people my age as we can only do as much as the exam boards let us.

It makes for a terribly disaffected youth when a reward for top grades (and make no mistake, despite how disputed their value is, they’re still the best you can achieve) is a chastisement and it is difficult not to find yourself with your arms in the air asking “What can I do?”

Universities are at their wits’ end and the same can be said for teachers and parents.

But above all, the true victims of this exam fiasco are the students themselves.

Many people of my own age feel genuinely disappointed by the way we have been patronised in light of the apparent ease of getting top grades.

Especially as we have studied hard for them. In the three week period that I had exams, my friends and I were really working very hard. There were a lot of late nights, early mornings and eating healthy foods.

The majority of people I have spoken to have worked for their exams and are genuinely nervous about the results.

So to have someone telling you that they are worth nothing is very hard.

My main issue is that even if exams are not as difficult as they should be, no one is giving us any solutions to the issue. They are just stating that is the case but are not giving any suggestions to solve the problem and it is my generation that is going to suffer.

So how is the Government planning to sort out the travesty that is separating the bright from the brilliant, the truly intellectual from those who can simply answer exam questions?

I wonder if we will ever reach a point where it becomes acceptable to recognise those who are average.

Previous solutions have been the introduction of new grades, most recently A* at A-level. Or should we start giving raw scores?

Perhaps the whole exam system should experience a complete overhaul?

Whatever it is, something must be done. I would suggest all the exam boards coming together to decide unanimously what a A* to C grade looks like and dare I say it, what a fail grade should consist of.

But most of all, what will be the X-factor when giving out the top grades?

I don’t have the answers to all of the questions, but I think someone should.

I think I speak for many people my age when I say regardless of what you may think of the worth of exam results, we have still worked hard to achieve them and it is high time we stopped being patronised and punished for a system which is out of our control.

You have set the boundaries and we have done what we can to succeed within them and that should be congratulated.

Should the exams system be overhauled? Tell us what you think below.