All posts tagged: exams

This Is What Teenagers Say Is Worrying Them The Most

This Is What Teenagers Say Is Worrying Them The Most

Published by Sam Flores

I often think about how tough it must be to be a teenager right now. Between the pressures of school life and the inability to get away from it all thanks to the 24/7 nature of social media, it sounds pretty exhausting. But what is it actually like? And what’s keeping the nation’s teenagers up at night? A 2025 survey by BBC Radio 5 Live and BBC Bitesize shed some light. The online poll of 2,000 kids aged 13-18 explored the issues shaping teenagers’ lives – from mental health and safety to the rise of AI. What is the biggest worry for teens? Getting kids to open up about what’s worrying them can be like drawing blood from a stone for plenty of parents. But the survey offered some insights into what teens worry about most. Over two-thirds (69%) of all participants reported feeling anxious at least some of the time, with pressure around exams and grades being the biggest worry. Its survey of 1,000 15- to 18-year-olds taking GCSE or A-Levels found 63% said …

Exam aids for maths and science GCSE exams to continue

Exam aids for maths and science GCSE exams to continue

Published by skeptic

Pupils will be continue to be given formulae and equation sheets for some GCSE subjects ahead of curriculum reforms, Ofqual has confirmed. The exams regulator decided exam boards will still be required to provide the exam aids for maths, physics and combined science, up to and including 2030 and 2031, the remaining lifetime of these qualifications. They had previously been confirmed until 2028. The aids were first introduced in 2022 due to concerns about the impact of the pandemic on learning. The requirement has been repeatedly extended. The government said in its response to the curriculum and assessment review that it would consider whether students should be required to memorise and recall each formula and equation, in reformed subjects from 2029 or 2030. Earlier this year, schools minister Georgia Gould said for the lifetime of these existing subjects pupils would not be required to memorise these for assessment purposes. Ofqual launched a three-week consultation and received more than 2,100 responses. Of these, 91.7 per cent supporting the proposals for a formulae sheet and 93 per cent supporting …

Despite obstructions, Israeli women sit for rabbinate exams in a historic first

Despite obstructions, Israeli women sit for rabbinate exams in a historic first

Published by Sam Flores

(RNS) — In a historic breakthrough, three women were allowed to sit for the Israeli rabbinate’s competency exams earlier this week. The tests, which drill on a variety of topics in Halacha — traditional Jewish law — were previously only available to men seeking rabbinic ordination. But Israel’s Supreme Court ruled last year that the rabbinate must open up exams to women. The exam didn’t go off without complications. The women were brought to a separate venue far from the male test takers and waited nearly five hours on Monday (April 27) until an emergency court order forced the rabbinate to administer the exam. “We were really exhausted, angry and hurt,” Yaara Vidman Samuel, one of the women who sat for the test, told RNS. “The feeling was that we were being looked down upon as human beings, mostly for the sake of politics.” Passing the tests will not grant the women the title of rabbi; Israel’s strictly Orthodox-controlled rabbinate does not ordain or acknowledge women as rabbis. But it was a win that comes …

DfE to get softer on resit entries but tougher on results

DfE to get softer on resit entries but tougher on results

Published by skeptic

Sixth forms and colleges face lighter sanctions and greater freedom over when students resit English and maths, under new government proposals, but risk tougher penalties if results slip. Published as part of a consultation, fresh accountability plans follow commitments made in last year’s post-16 education and skills white paper to better recognise the progress students make towards achieving level 2 in English and maths. Around 40 per cent of students begin post-16 study without a GCSE grade 4 in English and/or maths. The current condition of funding policy forces 16 to 19 year olds without a grade 4 in English and maths to continue studying the subjects. It is often criticised by colleges for driving endless resits. Ministers accept that progress towards level 2 in the core subjects happens in a “complex environment” and is not always captured by blunt exam outcomes. The government is now proposing changes designed to make greater “fair representation” of student progress while “reinforcing high standards” to sharpen accountability. Here’s what you need to know… Relief on exam entry penalties The most …

Exam Stress And Panic Is Prompting Kids To Call Childline

Exam Stress And Panic Is Prompting Kids To Call Childline

Published by Sam Flores

It probably won’t come as a surprise that May is the peak season for children to call Childline about exam stress. Between 1 April 2025 and 31 March 2026; the free, confidential service for kids delivered 1,679 counselling sessions where exam or revision stress was mentioned. These sessions peaked in May, coinciding with the start of exam season. There were 359 counselling sessions about exam stress in May 2025, making up 21% of all counselling sessions about the topic. In England, Wales and Northern Ireland, GCSEs start in early May, while AS and A Level exams take place from mid-May into June. In Scotland; National 5, Higher and Advanced Higher exams are already underway, finishing on 1 June. The majority of concerns about exam stress were from children aged 12-18 years old, however younger students are also impacted, with 11% of contacts coming from children aged 11 and under. One young person, aged 16, told the service: “If I’m not revising for exams, I feel this panic in my chest, but the panic also stops …

‘Body Doubling’ Could Help Kids With ADHD Focus On Revision

‘Body Doubling’ Could Help Kids With ADHD Focus On Revision

Published by Sam Flores

Body doubling – where a person with ADHD works nearby or alongside another person to keep them focused on the task at hand – isn’t a new technique, but ADHD experts are increasingly recommending it as a strategy to help support task completion. While plenty of adults already use it to plough through their daily workload, parents are also trying it to support their kids with homework or revision – especially the more boring stuff that’s hard to make a start on. I first came across the concept when psychotherapist Jessica VanderWier, of Nurtured First Parenting, shared some of the parenting strategies she would try in her own home if she had a child with ADHD. In addition to being structured with how much (and what type of) screen time kids encounter, and offering lots of opportunities for movement, she noted that she would also try “body doubling” when kids feel stuck and unable to start a task. “Body doubling is when you are present and doing something in the same space that your child …

Up Learn: Online Teaching Tool Can Help Kids Catch Up On GCSE Science

Up Learn: Online Teaching Tool Can Help Kids Catch Up On GCSE Science

Published by Sam Flores

We hope you love the products we recommend! All of them were independently selected by our editors. Just so you know, HuffPost UK may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page if you decide to shop from them. Oh, and FYI — prices are accurate and items in stock as of time of publication. If you’re currently losing sleep over your teenager’s upcoming exams, you’re certainly not alone. One in four parents say they lie awake at night worrying about their children’s exams, while over half (51%) report the home being hit negatively by exam stress. The good news is: if you’re based in England and think your child might be falling behind in GCSE Combined Science, there’s still time to make something of a difference before exam season starts on 4 May. Up Learn, a digital teaching platform trusted by over 100,000 students and 600 UK schools, has launched its GCSE Science course, designed to help students learn faster and remember more. The online learning platform utilises …

Gemini offers free SAT practice exams now – how to try them

Gemini offers free SAT practice exams now – how to try them

Published by skeptic

Samuel Boivin/NurPhoto via Getty Images Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google. ZDNET’s key takeaways Gemini now offers free practice SAT tests. The assistant will also back Khan Academy’s Writing Coach.  AI’s education creep continues despite concerns from educators. Over the last year, AI has only continued its creep into education. Students and teachers alike use AI assistants for everything from making flash cards to conducting large-scale project research, and companies have responded with features like ChatGPT Study Mode and teacher-specific services tailored to those use cases. Now, Google has set its sights on standardized testing. Starting Wednesday, students can use Gemini to help study for the SATs, the company announced. Users can access “full-length, on-demand practice exams” directly in the chatbot for free.  Continuing its investment in educational tools, Google said it partnered with The Princeton Review to ensure its tests use “rigorously vetted content from leading education companies” to ensure users are “preparing with material that more closely resembles what you’ll see on test day,” the company explained.  Also: How AI could close the education …

Photographers removed from GCSE paper over website images

Photographers removed from GCSE paper over website images

Published by skeptic

AQA deletes photographers’ names from exam after images ‘not appropriate for learners’ found on their websites AQA deletes photographers’ names from exam after images ‘not appropriate for learners’ found on their websites More from this theme Recent articles England’s biggest exam board has scrubbed the names of two photographers from one of its GCSE assessments over concerns their websites contain images that “may not be appropriate” for students. In an email to schools last week, AQA announced that references to Sam Taylor-Johnson and Tim Walker in questions for an art and design paper had been removed to “protect” pupils. One of the pages contains a video of a fully-naked man, while the other has photographs of models appearing to simulate sex. Teacher flagged the issue An AQA spokesperson said: “We recognise that the photographers are distinguished artists in their field, but some of their content may not be appropriate for GCSE students.” Both photographers were referenced in questions in this year’s externally set assessment for GCSE art and design. The papers are usually shared with …

Ofqual ‘signals anxiety’ to DfE about AI use in coursework

Ofqual ‘signals anxiety’ to DfE about AI use in coursework

Published by skeptic

More from this theme Recent articles The chief regulator of Ofqual has “signalled” his “anxiety” to ministers about the use of artificial intelligence in “extended writing” coursework and has commissioned internal work on how to “close down” the risk. Sir Ian Bauckham was quizzed by the Parliamentary education committee today. Here’s what you need to know… 1. AI not good enough for ‘sole marking‘ Ofqual will research on the use of artificial intelligence in marking exams this week. Bauckham told MPs “we don’t believe AI is yet ready to undertake sole marking of student work”. That was because it still makes mistakes and is hard to challenge, he added. But he said it can be used to “quality assure, detect for example unexpected patterns in examiners’ marking and so on, but not sole marking.” Former chief regulator Jo Saxton warned in 2023 they wouldn’t “allow” AI to solely mark students’ work. 2. Internal work commissioned on coursework AI risk Bauckham said he had “signalled my anxiety” to the Department for Education about the use of …