What’s the best way to prepare for exams ? A family view.

High-stakes assessment, testing and grading are topics of huge debate in the educational world.  Some believe that performance in tests is a fine measure of students’ capabilities and the way to prepare students for successful futures; others that modern understandings of learning and the requirements of today’s workspaces render these as obsolete.

Whatever my professional views, the issue was thrown into sharp relief for me when my daughter, Ruth, was in the middle of her IB exams.  During the gaps between the various papers, she filmed and animated this music video from some of her DP friends (it’s worth listening on better speakers than tend to come on computers and on phones).  The filming and animation took a long time; time that was not spent revising.

I have mentioned this at a couple of school events, and saw some clearly horrified reactions from various folk:  Surely, the exams were more important?  Surely, there was time for this kind of thing afterwards?  As someone for whom academic attainment has always been – and still is – very important, I have a great deal of sympathy with these sentiments, but I don’t think the answers are at all obvious.

Ruth’s place at University is assured – she has an unconditional offer to study Graphic Art.  That makes things easier of course, but I would not use that as an excuse for not taking exams so seriously.  And had she chosen to slog, slog slog, I would not have been disappointed.  But to look at how one chooses to spend one’s time, and to make principled choices that align with one’s deeply held beliefs about what is valuable, that might go against the obvious ways, is surely something to be applauded.   Surely we are looking for self-directed, autonomous adults?  If so, is this a time where we need to respect when they act in self-directed and autonomous ways?  Of course there are some socially-acceptable limits here, but I am wondering, if we look back in 10 years time, what will be more meaningful and important – an extra grade or two on a Diploma, or this beautiful and moving expression that she and her friends created?  Or even, if we want to take the practical route, is a higher score in, say, Maths, more impressive than this act of creation to future employers in the creative sector?  I doubt it.

I am not trying to draw general conclusions for all students or families here, by any means.   But I am wondering if the automatic primacy accorded to High School examinations is necessary, desirable, or even advisable.  In any case, exams or no exams, I am not at all sorry to see this delightful music video.

POST EXAM UPDATE: Interesting to note that my Ruth actually exceeded her predicted grades by 7 points.  One might say ‘amazing, and this happened despite all the non-academic work she did over the exam period – imagine how she might have done had she worked harder!’ or one might say ‘amazing, and this happened because of all the non-academic fun she had over the exam period’.  I guess we’ll never know, as we can never run a controlled experiment, but knowing my daughter, it’s the latter – she approached her exams relaxed and calm, and so she performed better than she ever had done before.  I wonder how many children this might be true for.