AS Exam Timetable Rant

Sudden · 14 May 2006 at 14:47

Galaxy said:
I thought that 6 hours worth of exams in a day is considered acceptable by the exam boards, but any more than this then you can ask for them to be separated. I'd speak to someone at your school/college if I were you.

I agree. I'm pretty sure taht guidelines say that if you have more than 6 hrs of exams in a day, they can be re-arranged. 6 hours is fine, more than that is not.
The downside of this of course is that, at least in the school i am, is that you have to be kept in isolation for the period between your exam and everyone else's exams.
I had a clash with my exams for my re-sits in January cause I had english and history on the same day or something, but both were in the afternoon. So they shifted one of my exams in the morning.

Same should apply for you I would imagine, but since you have 6 hrs, they would be on a different day.

Violent-J · 14 May 2006 at 14:49

Wow that is harsh, I have my exams fairly spread out thank god.

spirit · 14 May 2006 at 14:50

Tommy B said:
Scientific research shows that optimum concentration lasts around 15 minutes, not 420 minutes.

At any level, or at any exam, you should not have to sit that many hours in one day.

Exams should mimic life man, you dont do your job for 15mins, you have to be able to work hours in a row etc ;}

And life sucks, you just have to deal with things

Phil99 · 14 May 2006 at 14:52

Tommy B said:
Scientific research shows that optimum concentration lasts around 15 minutes, not 420 minutes.

So I guess you want to do the exams in 15 minute sessions at your convenience?

Inquisitor · 14 May 2006 at 15:01

If you're being supervised alone between two exams that clash (morning and afternoon) are you allowed revision material?

spirit · 14 May 2006 at 15:02

Inquisitor said:
If you're being supervised alone between two exams that clash (morning and afternoon) are you allowed revision material?

yeap

Inquisitor · 14 May 2006 at 15:08

spirit said:
yeap

Thank God for that

The Pat · 14 May 2006 at 15:09

My sister's friend ended up with all 8 of her A level exams on on day. It was a Friday and it wasn't physically possible to get them all done in one day. So she had to spend the weekend round at an teachers house, so she could not communicate with other people to find out what was on the other papers. You think you had it bad.

Spyhop · 14 May 2006 at 15:09

Big deal. Suck it down.

punky_munky · 14 May 2006 at 15:11

Some of you people are mean.

Do none of these institutions have decent timetabling software? :eek:

spirit · 14 May 2006 at 15:13

punky_munky said:
Some of you people are mean.

Do none of these institutions have decent timetabling software?

its not done my the institution, its done by the exam board nationally. and yes they DO know that they are on the same day..

its life everyone else has/had it so deal with it i guess

punky_munky · 14 May 2006 at 15:16

spirit said:
its not done my the institution, its done by the exam board nationally. and yes they DO know that they are on the same day..

its life everyone else has/had it so deal with it i guess

Oh yeah I forgot about exam boards. Execel did my college course, God they were rubbish.

spirit · 14 May 2006 at 15:17

punky_munky said:
Oh yeah I forgot about exam boards. Execel did my college course, God they were rubbish.

they are ok..i only did edexcel economics though

Stellios · 14 May 2006 at 15:20

Unlucky lad. I had to sit every physics AS level module in one day, now that is a pain.

TommoUK · 14 May 2006 at 15:36

The worst I have are 3-hour blocks, and that's just for english and critical thinking. For my 3 sciences, I just have 2 hours of exams (for each one, over 3 days). I'd hate to have 7 at once

Tommy B · 14 May 2006 at 15:36

spirit said:
Exams should mimic life man, you dont do your job for 15mins, you have to be able to work hours in a row etc ;}

And life sucks, you just have to deal with things

I know that I could go back and sit 10 hours of GCSE maths papers easily in a row, but I simply wouldn't be able to do that with something I find difficult.

spirit · 14 May 2006 at 15:43

Tommy B said:
I don't know of any jobs that require that amount of thinking tbh.

I know that I could go back and sit 10 hours of GCSE maths papers easily in a row, but I simply wouldn't be able to do that with something I find difficult.

my god its only 5 hours of exams - 2hours 1hr20break 3hours. They are only 1hour long too. If you find them so difficult that you could only take one exam a day, maybe you are doing subjects you shouldnt be doing? I mean for economics there is at least 10mins rest time in every module and physics way way more (if you know the stuff u can do each paper in like 20mins)

Oh and as for your suggestion on physics and maths, they are actually nothing alike at least at Alevel, alevel physics is a joke.

And lots of jobs require you to be able to think for that amount of time. Doctors have have like 30+ hour shifts when training..perhaps Scutzi can tell us if flight controlllers have 5hour shifts etc etc

PikeyPriest · 14 May 2006 at 15:44

Tommy B said:
I don't know of any jobs that require that amount of thinking tbh.

I know that I could go back and sit 10 hours of GCSE maths papers easily in a row, but I simply wouldn't be able to do that with something I find difficult.

LOL. I`m sure surgeons and medical staff walk out every 15 minutes so they dont get too stressed :eek:

In the real world you have to be able to work under stress and for long periods of time. It is more common to have to deal with hours of teaching/concentrating than 15 minute sections.

Ricochet J · 14 May 2006 at 15:48

Tommy B said:
I'm doing AS levels in a few weeks.

Am I the only one to think that, at this level, having 7 hours of exams in one day is slightly unfair? Do the exam boards employ morons to come up with these timetables?

I honestly believe my performance will be dramatically reduced for the last few exams, as will my concentration. This effectively jeopardises my chances of doing well. What’s more is that they could have put Maths and Physics together, two exams that require a similar state of mind. The cretins instead decide that it’d be a laugh to put economics and physics together instead.

I appreciate that there are much more irritating, difficult exam challenges ahead but I just think it’s harsh to put a 17 year old through 7 hours of exams in one day.

I'm absolutely furious tbh.

Stop whining, you're giving me a bad name

You try sitting through these papers one after the other each 1hour 45 mins long:
Mechanics and Radioactivity
Electricity and Thermal Physics
Particle and Nuclear Physics

Aha!

Tommy B · 14 May 2006 at 15:50

Don't tell me how long my exams are ffs. Each unit lasts ONE HOUR, and we get one half an hour break every 3 UNITS.

Doing a job and sitting in a dull room speechless staring at a bit of paper is DIFFERENT.