Milica's Chronicle

Exams, exams !!!

It is that time of the year. Homework that just keeps pilling up, never-ending standardised testings, college applications... Is there even a need to list all the things which make this part of the year the most stressful one? Should I even mention the pressure which we are under- we are expected to obtain good grades, do household chores, keep up with our extracurricular activities- all of that, while still trying to remain calm and not panic? Seems like an impossible task, doesn't it?

That is the briefest description that I could have thought of to describe what a typical IGCSE/AS/A level student has to go through. No one has it easy; on one hand, there are IGCSE students which are introduced to the "amazing" world of standardised testings which should somehow determine their destiny, and on the other hand there are AS/A level students which have to handle exam preparation and university application at the same time. If there was a definition of a multitasking ninja in the dictionary, you would see a picture of one of these students next to it.

Although the adults would say that we do not have any other obligations in our lives except school so therefore the inability to perform well at school is unacceptable, the truth is far away from that. It is perfectly understandable that we have a desire to, from time to time, go out and socialise with our friends because, after all, we are still teenagers. I do not think that our parents skipped a Saturday night-out just to finish a millionth past paper which was given to them for homework. Still, we are expected to give up on some aspects of our life, like hanging out with friends in a local café every Thursday after school, so we could maximise our grades and potentially get into Oxbridge or an Ivy League College.

I am not saying that teachers should be too lenient to students and not give them any homework. There will be many times in our lives when we will have to give up on some things so giving up on certain things while still a teenager is not necessarily a bad thing. What I am saying is that, the next time a student does not perform well in an exam or does not finish all the homework she/he had to do over the weekend, it does not always mean that the student was too lazy. Maybe there were many other school-related obligations which the student had to fulfill or maybe the student decided to spend some time catching up with their friends. Teachers, put yourself in students' shoes- have you really dedicated your whole youth to school or have you, time to time, taken your mind off of school and enjoyed the perks of being a teenager?