Middle Years

Elephant in the room – exams

This week in the Middle Years has focused on completing final assessment tasks and getting into revision. What is noticeable, however, is the big elephant in the room…. exams. While not visible, this elephant certainly takes up space emotionally and cognitively for Middle Years students. The image below (courtesy of John Atkinson) outlines all of the strategies students may use to avoid this elephant. But no matter how well or how badly students prepare for their exams, this elephant is still there and will arrive in full force on Wednesday. 

Some students choose to ignore the elephant and waste their revision time in class, which creates more stress, anxiety and even arguments about studying when at home. On the other hand, students who embrace the elephant challenge use their class revision time to ask questions and complete practice examples, which helps them feel much better prepared and less anxious about the elephant arriving.  They also have much less revision to do outside of class time. This all comes down to students being efficient with their revision, doing their best in class, and having a go at all the revision activities offered by their teachers. For Middle Years students, exams are about experimenting and learning the most effective and efficient revision strategies. 

I wish all our students success in their examinations next week, but I do hope they both acknowledge and embrace the elephant in the room, do their best, and celebrate all of their achievements, whether they be large or small.