Since September 1986 secondary school pupils have been made to stress over the unrealistic expectations that schools and colleges set for them. 

According to bera.ac.uk the concerns over 15- and 16-year-olds stress and anxiety levels over exam season is increasing. The reported amount of school children who have disclosed that they feel pressured and anxious has gone from 25% to 40%. An article by Markinstyle about the alarming UK exam stress statistics read that 73% of teachers in secondary schools believe that since the introduction of the reformed GCSEs, students mental health has worsened.

After having a conversation with year 10 student, who is currently going through her year 10 mocks at Davison CE high school for girls, this is what she had to say about the GCSE system, “Many of us have only been studying some subjects for like five months, I think they create a lot of unneeded stress and many students don’t perform well under those conditions” Maya Healey. Should year 10 students be assessed on subjects they have only recently been introduced to? After speaking to a few other years 10 students they expressed that they are already feeling the stress of not getting the 8s and 9s they are wishing to achieve by the end of year 11.

Since the introduction to GCSEs, we have seen a rise in mental health cases across the UK, the exam system in the UK is out of date compared to the worlds evolution. Students are not being taught the necessary skills to keep up with the revolution that is happening across the world. 

So I ask you does the UK need to abolish our outdated public examination system that the government hold onto?