GCSE's 2019- The End of an Era

"Now is there anyone with a mobile phone or any other electronic gadgets in their pockets. All sure that they are switched off and in your bags?"

I still remember what the examiners would say before every exam, without fail; the rehearsed speech that was ingrained in every year 11's mind across the country- as if we don't have enough to retain! My GCSE exams have finished; it feels unreal! Year 11 has gone unbelievably quickly. In fact, all my 5 years at high school have flown by. The memories I have of the students, the teachers, and the work, will stick with me for life. Those that are closest to me, know how passionate I am about school and learning, and unlike most, I often thrive off the deadlines and tasks that I have to complete. GCSE's were essentially the final task that encompassed many subjects, much hard work and serious resilience. For those that worked hard, I imagine the feeling is well known. I have spent the majority of my 5 years at high school preparing for GCSE's; I was always one step ahead of the game, and I saw it as a journey- one which I knew would test me in more ways than just remembering maths formulas! I would like to share this journey with you today, and give people insight into my own experiences during my exams, and how they've set me on a path towards my future.

When people tell you that the GCSE exams have got considerably harder over the past few years, they're not exaggerating. The new 9-1 grading system is much harsher, more testing and mounts huge pressure upon students. Professor Alan Smithers, director of the centre of education and employment at Buckingham University, said ,"GCSE content has been reformed, and will allow the most able students to better demonstrate the full range of their ability, and better prepare them for A levels." Hence, why now, most individual courses are based on exams, and pupils can't portray their talents through various levels of coursework and work put in over a longer period of time. Instead, 5 years of work is crammed into a 2 hour exam for each subject (in fact, in most cases, 2 or 3 exams per subject) Many people are strongly opinionated on this, with some believing that it is in no way a true reflection of how capable someone is at a subject, but, as it's the same for everyone, there is, arguably, method to the madness and it tests us on how well we can cope under pressure. After all, that's what life is all about. 2019 was the second year that the new GCSE courses have been tested, so our year had more of an advantage than the previous one. The teachers were more prepared, aware of the styles of questions, and ways to approach the exam, but squeezing the content into year 10 and year 11 was always going to be challenging. 18 poems to learn, RS quotes, Geography case studies; the list was never-ending. For most subjects, I actually found the content really interesting, and due to my natural yearning to learn, I found my lessons highly thought-provoking; especially English. English was, and still is my favourite subject; I found a way to express myself through words on paper and regardless of the outcome of my results, I will be taking both English Literature and English Language at A level. My English teacher, who was an incredible influence, has been one of the biggest influences for this blog. Being naturally good at English and writing gave me an advantage when it came to subjects like RS, Geography and History, which were very much writing-based, and combined with my general interest in humanities, I always did well in them; geography interested me the most though. The way the world works, and the way in which people interact with the world is becoming increasingly important today, with climate change (despite what Donald Trump says), need for housing, and conflicts that can lead to problems in resource management across the world, which affects us all: prevailing modern issues. I would have really enjoyed carrying on Geography into A level, but unfortunately, I can't do everything! This mindset became increasingly important for me in December 2018 when I started experiencing high levels of stress and anxiety due to the amount of work that I was having to comprehend. Mental health issues brought about by the nature of exams is on the rise, and I believe it will continue to do so if schools do not put in the correct measures to assist the students. I was offered help by the school around my mocks in dealing with exam stress, however this was never followed up, and subsequently, I had to put in my own measures to help myself. Due to OFSTED ratings and the school's targets, there is more emphasis put on GCSE results, and those that care about the outcome of their results will be under more pressure from schools, combined with the pressure they already put on themselves. I am my biggest critic, as my Dad says. Nothing is ever perfect to me; I always believe I can go that one step further, and unfortunately, I suffered the backlash of breaking under this strain in my mocks, and to put it simply, I had to learn how to have fun again. Ask my parents; ask my friends; I would spend hours upon hours at the weekend, and in the evenings at my desk- studying hard- never giving in, because I was so driven to get the results that I knew I was capable of. If anything, by the time it came to GCSE's, I was more calm and composed, as I knew all this hard work was finally coming to it's climax and this is where I could really show it. And if some of my results aren't what I was expecting to achieve, I've learnt never to criticise myself, as I worked harder than what was probably good for me and I did the very best that I could do.

My first exam was RS, since it became compulsory for our year to take it as a GCSE. It's true when they say that the first exam is always the worst; the going gets easier after that first hurdle. So I'd cross them off my list, one by one, waiting for that final German exam on the 17th June. It was 4 weeks of exams, sometimes 2 exams in one day, with a week break in between. I found the maths exams rather difficult, but gave them my best shot, so here's hoping I've done enough to get a 7. Maths was never really my strong point, but I worked so hard at it and even had the capability of getting an 8- I never liked it much though; too formulaic; I prefer to be more expressive in my learning. If there's one thing GCSE's have taught me in general, it's to expect the unexpected, since our English teacher was convinced that a certain poem wouldn't come up in our exam..it did, although I think I handled it well, and relied on my ability to react to surprising situations. Again, this is a life skill. Preparation for the exam strategy is the one of the most important pieces of advice I can give to people going in to their GCSE's. This and timing is just as important, if not more so than the content itself. That, and not to panic. This will only cause you to temporarily lose all that knowledge stored in your head from revision, as you will be too absorbed in your worry and anxiety. I often found that it helped to make notes across my exam paper, so that I wouldn't forget certain words or facts that I wanted to get into my answers. Especially for Geography 9 markers- 10 minutes to write a 9 mark answer is something I certainly won't miss. Just like I won't miss the annoying invigilator, who, during one of my geography papers decided he wanted to lean back and forward against the wall; call me pedantic, but it was incredibly distracting. I would never want to do an invigilator's job though- 2 hours staring over student's shoulders, staring at the wall, getting angry with a bunch of year 9's who liked to speak loudly outside the room, trying to entertain themselves in any way that would stop them from dying of boredom- hats off to them; I couldn't do it. They still managed to mess up the CD for my music exam though, and had to get the technician in to sort it out. You'd think that they would practice it before we started the exam, but nevertheless it made me smile; it was a break from the monotonous routine that exams had inflicted upon us all.

My mind shut off from it all at times-it needed to. I had my own thoughts to make myself smile in the exams, which got me through some rather difficult days. I managed to write about Hitler and the origins of evil in both of my RS exams; I think I actually wrote more about Hitler in RS than my history paper about Nazi Germany, which was interesting..! For one of my biology exams, my row had already been called out to leave the exam hall, but I was so wrapped up in my own thoughts that I hadn't realised, and 30 seconds later, realising everyone had gone, I proceeded to finally get up out of my seat, much to my friend's amusement. Or when I went to the wrong seat for one of my English exams, saw someone in the seat, realised that wasn't mine, and then having to get my exam timetable out in front of everyone who was already sat down, to find my correct one. But at least I'm not my best friend, who got up before her row was even called out, clearly desperate to get out of there.

Throughout those 5 weeks, I got by solely on my own will power and determination to succeed (and a few energy drinks) It was exhausting. I had no real time for myself in the evenings, and had to focus my attention on the exams I had the following day; but I was used to it. I started revising properly a few weeks after my mocks, around February, but really I had been revising all year. I would get up at 7:30 on a Saturday morning, after a long week at school, to try and fit topic areas in for all of my subjects. It was a challenge-one I always rose to. I wish I had also stressed to myself the importance of balance though. GCSE's are undoubtedly very important, and due to new employer skills and the vast range of jobs that are becoming available, it's important that you work at them. But they do not determine everything that will happen to you in the future. You will not be unsuccessful if you don't get the results you want; they're merely stepping stones and a gateway to wherever you want to go next, whether it be A levels or an apprenticeship. My stress was mainly brought about by my own inability to listen to people that told me this. I desperately wanted to get the grades I was predicted, but because of my self-motivation, I forgot how important it is to take one day at a time, and to balance work and play. For my parents, I must have been a breeze. I was never encouraged to revise or to work harder, I was instead encouraged to take regular breaks from revising, take a step back, play piano, listen to music and to breathe.

GCSE targets are created by the results of SATS, which you take on the last year of primary school. For the vast majority of my subjects, my expected targets were within the 5-6 boundary which is roughly C-B. It soon came to a lot of my teacher's attention that those targets would not stop me reaching even higher, as I had more ambitious targets of my own, that I hit during my mocks and I can only hope that I've hit them again when I receive my GCSE results. In my mocks I got 9's in English, RS and History; 8's in Science, Geography and German; 7 in Maths and a 5 in Music. To reach those achievements again, and to get slightly higher in Music has been something I've wanted for a long time. But with dreams come action, and that was something I knew from day one. But if I don't get these results-and here's a message for anyone who doesn't quite meet what they expected to- YOUR RESULTS DO NOT DEFINE YOU; they do not determine a pathway for the rest of your life. See it like the foundations of your house; they put you onto the next stage.

GCSE's are a life experience in more ways than one- the content, the pressure and the resilience required to get through. I've been stressed, I've been angry and I've been very busy, but I feel all the more stronger for it. Now here's to the future, wherever that will take me, and to await my results on the 22nd August. In the meantime, I have prom to look forward to, to relive the memories I've made over the past 5 years of my life and to open the door to the next chapter.

And now I think it's time for me to put my pen down..

Some day in Year 11

First day of Year 7