Exam Experience

Year 11 Exams Conclude

R. Cameron

YEAR 11 EXAMS HAVE CONCLUDED, and despite the knowledge and realisation that these exams are the preliminary exams before our HSC year, the lack of stress and lack of pressure has been evident among the cohort. The Year 11 exams can lead to early entry, good habits for Year 12, and some of the content is even assessed in the following year; but even with this, the year group seems to be surprisingly relaxed.

In an exam period, you would expect the library to be packed, heads down, and the majority of the cohort to be solely focused on the preliminary exams, however this hasn’t really been the case. Personally I have been very distracted, I have been more focused on curriculars and other things more than my studies. I have spent approximately the same amount of time rowing as I have studied, and when I am studying, it’s not as productive as it should be, and from the students I have spoken to, this has been rather consistent. When I am in the library (which has actually been a fair amount) I find myself and most boys aimlessly talking to those surrounding us, about unrelated and disruptive matters. The urgency and necessity has not been as extensive as it has been in the past and not as high as it normally should be for the preliminary exams.

The year group has not received marks back but I don’t think they will be as bad as I am making out. Although the required attention and diligent attitude hasn’t been present, the overwhelming majority has prepared effectively and the exam period hasn’t needed to be extremely stressful which is more often than not what leads to better results. While this is true, however, the amount of chess, youtube, and other irrelevant activities during this period is rather concerning and I believe moving into the HSC, our cohort will need to shape up our attitude to be successful and become determined when the pressure really kicks in.

Thankfully, this period of examination is concluding, and will have concluded when this is published, and the year group can relax for the few weeks before our concluding year at Shore commences. These exams haven’t been extremely difficult (excluding maths extension). It has definitely been a learning experience for our cohort and myself, who are going to need a change in attitude for the upcoming, stressful, and demanding year ahead of us.