Exams should be a celebration of all that students have learned and not something to be dreaded, according to an occupational psychologist worried by the levels of stress at this time of year.
“Exams are not out to get you. Exams are for you to be able to show what you know and you should be enjoying them. They are a celebration,” Katya Degiovanni, senior lecturer in psychology told the Times of Malta.
“If students were prepared in the right way, exams should be the culmination of their ‘performance’, just as a recital or play is the culmination of all the preparations and rehearsals,” she said.
Things have changed considerably over the past few decades and the fact that there were now so many educational options took the sting out of exams for they were no longer a do or die scenario, Ms Degiovanni noted.
Still, she knows how destructive the stress of an exam can be. She believes that continual assessments – as used in vocational education – are the better way.
“At the end of the day, assessments should not be ‘of’ their learning but ‘for’ their learning,” she said.
The plans are to change the system in a few years’ time. The government has vowed to discontinue mid-year exams in its schools from scholastic year 2018/19, with continuous assessments from Form 3.
That was not to say there was no place for exams: they should be used when knowledge was needed at the tip of your fingers, a crisis situation where you need to know something by heart, Ms Degiovanni continued.
Parents are a resource and not the enemy to be kept away from the school
She warned that changing the system without changing the culture would result in failure, noting that when the benchmarking system replaced the 11+ exam seven years ago (for entry to secondary school) not enough work had been done with parents.
“People still want to know where their children stand and to use them as trophies. I disagree with this approach,” she said.
The level of stress tended to vary with age, as older students would have acquired coping mechanisms and realised the importance of a strict studying timetable spread across the whole year.
It also depended on the type of exam because a multiple choice one was all about memory work while in exams where one would apply knowledge to a case study, one would need to tap into much deeper resources and experience.
Parents, she said, were another factor because, in some cases, they also put pressure on children.
The obsession with private lessons makes Ms Degiovanni shudder, describing them as a “black market industry”.
The potential positive role of parents could not be underestimated, however, and she pleaded for schools to work in tandem with parents, especially those of younger students.
“That is where I see problems cropping up, when the school is reserved about sharing resources and, sometimes, even information. They need to share a priori what students could expect in their exams, by providing sample papers, schemes of work, syllabi for the year, for example.
“All too often, parents are thrown into the deep end as they want to help their children but have no idea what to expect. Parents are a resource and not the enemy to be kept away from the school. There is this fear that they would try to tell the school how to do their job,” she said.
In spite of advances over the years, Ms Degiovanni still frets that most teachers in career counselling have never been out of school, so do not really know what the jobs entail.
“We had a lot of students who had to switch course. There are so many to choose from and it has become so complicated with regard to entry and exit points.
“It has become quite commonplace to change one’s mind.
“It is also more acceptable – and feasible – because students work part-time. The fact that there is enough employment for students has eased pressure. Students start one course after another, knowing they already have a foot in the workplace,” Ms Degiovanni added.
Some useful tips
■ Enjoy some relaxation time on the eve of exams. Set aside some time for revision but studying should be done well before.
■ Your brain needs to be relaxed to function at its peak. A good night’s sleep before an exam is very important.
■ Research shows that cramming at the last minute does not work in the long term because the information would not be retained, though it might help over a short-term period.
■ To memorise something, read it just before you go to bed as your brain will absorb it while you are asleep.
■ Use mnemonics to help you remember either facts or their order of use. Two examples: Order of Planets: My Very Excited Mother Just Served Us Nine Pies (Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto). RICE when treating a sprain (Rest the injured area, Ice the sprain, Compress with a wrap or bandage, Elevate the injured area).