As an A level student I can tell you how difficult it is to keep up with all the work, revisions and exam pressure, but I wanted to see if my fellow 13th graders felt the same thing, so I interviewed Alessandra. She plans to study Ancient World Studies at UCL. I asked how much she was reviewing daily since her predicted grades were quite high; she told me that she doesn’t really revise every day, but usually she studies for about 3 hours spread out. When not studying, she usually talks to friends/uses social media, she also likes to read. I also asked if she had time for any of her hobbies to which she said that due to A levels she didn’t have time to do things like knitting and crocheting. Alessandra goes on to say that A-levels even make it difficult to relax at home as she feels there is “increasing pressure” on her. She said she couldn’t ‘relax or have fun without feeling guilty in that moment’ and that ‘teachers reinforce that too much’, which I agree with; it’s so hard not to think about work when you’re an A level student because you know you can always do more than you do, but you have to remember that we deserve a break and we can’t work whenever possible.
During the interview, I wondered if the quality of teachers had a significant impact on a student’s ability to do well; Alessandra and I agree that the quality of the teacher is extremely important as it impacts how much a student listens in class and how eager they are to learn. “Better teachers are better for me and my learning which produces better grades”. It is important to understand, however, that it is ultimately up to the student to do what the teacher asks them to do and to put in enough effort to get the grade they want. The last question I wanted to ask Alessandra was if she believed that the school focuses more on outcomes rather than process and student progress; ‘absolutely because everything is based on a series of tests’ moreover, it does not take into account the efforts of a student and his performance during the whole year, ‘that a series of tests decides everything ignoring factors such as exam stress are ‘. It is a massive debate among many whether these types of tests should be used to determine the outcome of students on a 2-year course. Do you think this system is fair? And if not, how would you improve it?
“If I had one wish, it would be to change the education system in England”
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Source: www.times-series.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-03-31 22:48:33
