Challenging

If I was to point to one time, in the whole of 2020 that has pushed me to the edge, it is the last week. I’ve taken most of the year in my stride. Controlled what I could. Moved on, when needed. Even flourished in some ways, but it seems not even a pandemic can knock exam results day off the top spot of tension inducing events for me.

I’ve done my far share of exams: O’levels (I’m old!), A’ levels, university degree, engineering and computing chartered exams, plus all the mock exams in between. For years, running up to June, I still had that dream about sitting in the exam hall, looking at a paper for a subject that I’d never studied. Teachers milling around pointing out that I should.

It turns out, that none of this prepared me for watching my own children go through it and it would actually be far worse to experience second hand.

She was fine. Far more relaxed.

In case you missed it, this year’s A’ levels have been a mess. These are the exams that lead on to university. (GCSEs, which are our 16+ exams, as well, but forgive me for focusing on the A levels).

Eldest was due to take her A’ levels.

The June exams were cancelled back in March. Too soon, if you ask me. I’m still grumbling that they should have been delayed a month. Especially as it turned out that her younger sister sat in the same classrooms in July that she would have taken the exams in.

Instead schools were asked to provide assessed marks and rank the students in order, based on past performance. No joint 3rds or 4ths. Identical performing students had to be given different ranked numbers. An algorithm was created to prevent grade inflation where teachers were too generous or not.

To cut a long story short, the algorithm failed to be fair, so they reverted to the teacher assessed marks. Rather than sorting this all out before giving the grades, the students were given the algorithm marks. There was an outcry. People high up shuffled their feet, mumbled and changed their minds, over the next few days. Passed the buck like it was a hot potato or something worse. In the meantime, good students lost places at university for no good reason. Anxiety levels were up.

(homemade fig ice cream)

Fortunately, eldest had decided on a gap year before university, long before Covid 19 came into our vocabs. It didn’t stop the long drawn out wait being painful. We had a second results day, waiting for the school to release the original teacher assessed grades. Two results day, in less than a week. It was cruel. Friends received theirs before her, which is never a good feeling.

She did well. Better than when I did mine. She’ll need to up her points a bit to follow her dream, but it is doable.

When I eventually got through to school, I used the pronoun “we” instead of “she”. I apologised and the member of staff laughed and said that she’s been talking to a lot of parents who were reliving their A level experience. It is hard to see your child go through it. So much easier when they are little and you can pick them up and sort everything out for them, there and then.

All is good. I guess she’ll be able to tell the tale, one day, of how she passed exams that she never took. Less of sitting the wrong paper and more not sitting it at all.

That is different.

Did anything else happen this week? I made fig ice cream, using the figs from my tree. It is beyond yummy. The boys made another 3 litres of apple juice from our trees. They made a very slick team.

I organised most of the school uniform for the younger teens. Just shoes to buy now. I’ve booked an appointment at the shoe shop this weekend, after making the mistake last weekend of just turning up. How times have changed.

Challenging? Yes, but I’m not one to shy away from a challenge. I’m back to taking everything in my stride again, but, please no-one remind me that I have two more children to take through exams still.

Joining in with Anne’s Word of the Week.