Were Exam periods that bad when we went to school ?

[MarkVS]

My daughter is in year 11, and today is the first day of her Year 11 Term 1 block exams. Starting with English and Biology today. And the rest are next week through the week.

She has been studying flat out for the last week and a half and will be studying solidly through the exams next week. It just seems so much more intense...I don't remember that sort of intensity when I did Senior School. Or is it my memory   

What do others remember  ?


MarkVS

[GeoffA]

Hi Mark,

I agree. We've been through it twice.

IMO, far too much is made of it all, and the whole thing is amped up way beyond what is necessary.

I'm tipping that at the end of next year you'll look back and wonder why......

 
Geoff

[cruiser 91]

If she is stressed now in year 11, wait till they hit Uni.......................it's a whole different ball game.
They need to learn how to handle stress, prioritise and balance life now, otherwise Uni will definitely cause a meltdown.
Our youngest is in her last year of Uni completing a teaching degree, its the biggest work yet. She is a perfectionist and works 2 jobs. Keeping a very close eye on her at the moment.   

[Symon]

I agree, even when I went through (*cough* 20 years ago) there was a lot of pressure around exams, especially the statewide exams like QCS (or whatever it is called now).  I'm firmly of the opinion that much of this is due to schools wanting to get good PR.  There was a lot of fanfare when one school in my area got five OP1's, and others only got one or two, if any.

A lot of stress gets put on kids these days that they really don't need.  Especially around entrance to university, contrary to many beliefs, your life is not a failure if you don't have a university education.

[MarkVS]

If she is stressed now in year 11, wait till they hit Uni.......................it's a whole different ball game.
They need to learn how to handle stress, prioritise and balance life now, otherwise Uni will definitely cause a meltdown.

I wouldn't say she's stressed...actually far from it.....she's very controlled and has it all planned with the help of her Teacher mentor........but its more around the amount of effort being put in..and its not just my daughter...all of her friends are the same.

[cruiser 91]

I wouldn't say she's stressed...actually far from it.....she's very controlled and has it all planned with the help of her Teacher mentor........but its more around the amount of effort being put in..and its not just my daughter...all of her friends are the same.

Thats great, having good friends in her pier group is very important. Beware if she decides to go to uni, almost all mentoring, support, help stops.................lecturers are a different bread..............you're on your own. This was a huge shock for our daughter.

[MarkVS]

I'm tipping that at the end of next year you'll look back and wonder why....

I didn't buy the new camper earlier.......is what you meant to say Geoff  

Mark

[cruiser 91]

I agree, even when I went through (*cough* 20 years ago) there was a lot of pressure around exams, especially the statewide exams like QCS (or whatever it is called now).  I'm firmly of the opinion that much of this is due to schools wanting to get good PR.  There was a lot of fanfare when one school in my area got five OP1's, and others only got one or two, if any.

A lot of stress gets put on kids these days that they really don't need.  Especially around entrance to university, contrary to many beliefs, your life is not a failure if you don't have a university education.

Totally agree, though it was a different story when our oldest son finished year 12 at a private school, he decided he didn't need to put any effort in studying to achieve good grades, he just scraped through and I mean just, then found a job at Bob Jane as a trainee tyre changer on $7hr. All I could think of was what a waste of money private school was. Today he is 25, just finished his apprenticeship at SA Power Networks and is on $120K a year and no HEC's debt.......................maybe he did learn something is school............   

[Symon]

Thats great, having good friends in her pier group is very important. Beware if she decides to go to uni, almost all mentoring, support, help stops.................lecturers are a different bread..............you're on your own. This was a huge shock for our daughter.

Uni must have changed then.  When I went through there was heaps of support services available, as well as tutorials on top of the lectures.  If you feel like you are on your own, then I don't think you may have been looking hard enough.

[Garfish]

Uni must have changed then.  When I went through there was heaps of support services available, as well as tutorials on top of the lectures.  If you feel like you are on your own, then I don't think you may have been looking hard enough.

Same when I went through, but I learnt the tricks in semester 1.  First lecture for assignment, last lecture exam tips,   32 hours contact a year as a full time student so plenty of time for   

But most of my lecturers had an open door policy and you could work through difficulties with them and they'd review draft assignments etc.  but you had to ask unlike at school were some teachers spoon feed you.   

Remember you don't really start learning till you get in the workforce.   School results are to get into the course/Uni you want. Uni is to get you in the door as a grad and then you commence your education....

I still have fond memories of the lotus 1-2-3 file that calculated the $. / std drink that I used at Uni

Exams periods are as difficult as the student.  Mine were simple I refused to cram/ study during exam periods, as that what the rest of the year was for. Others would do 16 hours a day to cram. Each to their own. 

[Symon]

Same when I went through, but I learnt the tricks in semester 1.  First lecture for assignment, last lecture exam tips,   32 hours contact a year as a full time student so plenty of time for   

The way to approach it is to treat uni as your full-time job.  9-5 during weekdays is uni time, after that, party time.  If you have to do uni stuff on weekends then you haven't been taking your job seriously enough.

[rossm]

I guess it is another sign of how things have changed

I did my final year of school in 1969 and while there was a desire, rather than pressure, to do well, there were much fewer distractions

There were no drugs, very little alcohol, few of my mates had girlfriends and the associated issues there, there was obviously no computers, mobile phones, Facebook ... Just the evil television.

Main entertainment at the weekend was the footy on Saturday.

And you didn't  need tertiary education to get a job.

I feel for young people today.

[Rodt]

My eldest daughter is doing Year 11 here in NSW and we went to an info night a few weeks ago. Were told that everything from now on in is about getting through the HSC next year and in Year 11 they are expected to study at least 2 hours per night and basically have assignments due every week. Were also advised that this will step up in Year 12. I definitely get the impression that it is not about teaching the kids knowledge but more about doing repetitive tasks and regurgitate what is written in text books.

No doubt most if not all schools are the same but it appears to me that we are losing an extremely good opportunity to prepare kids to learn as opposed to just preparing them to get a good score at the end.

Maybe should have been in the rant thread 

Rod

[Bad Scott]

My theory with exams was just wing it. Pointless in doing a cram session of studying.
Sent from .................

[Symon]

My theory with exams was just wing it. Pointless in doing a cram session of studying.
Sent from .................

My general rule was never study the night before an exam, just get a good nights sleep.

If you don't already know the material, cramming the night before won't do you any good.

[Bird]

I've always sucked at exams... My mind just blue screens with an unrecoverable error... 

At TAFE I was discussing networking with the teacher who said your going to love today... anyway went into class, and had an exam....

Nearly everything discussed was in the exam.. but as soon as the exam paper hit the desk, I just Shit my pants and just about forgot my name... I've always been the same with written exams/tests..

When she marked the test she called me into her office (sadly no not for that), and we talked.. next exam I had was verbal not written.

I'd never had made it with yr 11/12.. would have been a complete waste of time for me.

[chester ver2.0]

Uni must have changed then.  When I went through there was heaps of support services available, as well as tutorials on top of the lectures.  If you feel like you are on your own, then I don't think you may have been looking hard enough.

Uni is still like this the support is there but unlike school YOU have to seek it out. In high school a good teacher will see a struggling student and help them but inUni if you did not understand the content YOU had to make an appointment with the lecturer or Tutorial aid.
The other thing you need at uni is self disipline because dont turn up to a lecture no one will care dont hand in an assingment no one will chase you up you just get a big F and have to do the course again too many F's and then someone will chase you up and have a hard discussion about is this the place for you

If you have a child with self displine problems i cannot reccomend highly enough TAFE as a gateway to uni. You will get Uni credits for the course you do and it is a cross between high school and Uni so you get eased into that "support is only there if you go looking for it model"

I can speak from experience i failed my HSC with a TER of 42% went to TAFE for 1.5 years and studied businees passed in the credit grade. Went to uni continued business with OHS got a years worth of credist for for my TAFE corse only had to do 2 years and walked out with a degree in the credit grade so i was only 6 months behind my mates that went straght to uni and half of them had to do an extra semester anyway

Since then have worked as a National Safety Manager for 2 of Oz largest compaines, National OHS project manager for a 3rd and Compliance Coord for Australias Largest Oil and Gas construction project and have been invited back to TAFE to lecure as a Subject matter expert in between

So yeah at the end of the day whils the HSC is important it is more the behaviour and disipline at uni that will make or break a student. It is not the end of the world if they dont do well in the HSC cause it is amazing the marks that go up when they are picking subjects of interest to them