Persuasive Essay Example on Should Exams be Abolished?

What is your opinion on exams? Many people may agree with exams, but many more people disagree… including a lot of teachers- An article by the guardian states “60 percent of teachers… said they did not think exams were necessarily the best indicators of a pupil's ability.” So really, what’s the point in exams? Well, examinations were invented to check student’s overall knowledge in subjects, though they have since become more of a memory game, which the world has become obsessed with… So much so that you are allowing children to suffer over them. We need to change that.

Examinations put so much pressure on pupils, it’s truly shocking. I believe the pressure comes not only from the actual exams themselves, but often a lot more… think of all the pressure these poor students must feel, from all the studying and preparation, to actually sitting in the exam hall participating in their many exams, to awaiting the exam results. Students are expected to do too good which is causing them to suffer. “Child Line results from the past few years show that 11% more students have been coming to them for counselling sessions (information from the NSPCC website) because of exam stress and pressure that is put on them from their parents and schools.” Earlier in this paragraph, it also states “statistics show that students facing exams in 2019 are likely to face over 9 hours more of exams than in 2016 (information from the Independent).” (williamfarr.lincs.sch.uk). Shocked? Of course, you are. This shows the appalling amount of pressure students face every year, the stress it causes not only leads to more students attending counselling sessions but also may affect many of their mental and physical health. The second quote, although from 2019, tells us the eye-opening, surprising amounts of time that the pupils spend simply sitting exams. We are now in 2022, so how many more hours do you think have been added since? In my personal experience, I am sitting around 12 hours of exams this year. That’s half a day, plus that’s not counting any study time. I think it’s about time we do something about this.

Sadly, students are often forced to deal with a range of mental health problems, which are commonly caused by these loathsome examinations. So, how can exams cause mental illness? Well, the stress, pressure, and worry of exams can all lead to extreme anxiety, depression, panic attacks, and many, many more. “Over half of mental health issues in the UK are in students from the age of 14 onwards, and that 75% of mental health issues will appear by age 18.” This is the time where students are likely to be preparing for, and eventually sitting, exams. We can clearly see from this, that exams are affecting students’ mental health, yet nothing is being done about it. Think about how many people sit exams each year, and how many people are burdened with a mental illness of some sort because of it. I think this is totally unfair. We should at the very least be offering more support to struggling students.

Now, not only do exams cause mental illness in students, but they can also cause physical illness and pain. From vomiting to self-harming, all sorts of physical sickness and suffering can be caused by exams. “More extreme reactions to exam situations included headaches, insomnia and vomiting.” (theguardian.com). Another website, independent.co.uk, states “The poll carried out by the National Education Union (NEU), found that more than half (56 percent) of school staff said youngsters had been self-harming or thinking of self-harming.” Although many people will only experience problems such as having ‘butterflies in their stomachs’, others end up becoming ill. Although things such as vomiting and headaches aren’t extreme illnesses, the fact that students are still forced into sitting exams when it is known that they make people physically (and of course mentally) unwell is appalling. Plus, on top of this, some students cause suffering for themselves as they feel like they need to hurt themselves… do you really think this is acceptable?

Exams affect some pupils so badly, that they decide to take their own life. Imagine feeling the need to kill yourself because of exams. People are quite literally dying because of exams and yet, we still do nothing about it. “Almost half (49%) of education staff say secondary school pupils have been suicidal because of the stress they’re under.” (markinstyle.co.uk). Information from another source states “With 29% of the 201 teen suicides in 2014 taking place whilst waiting for exam results, or the exams themselves, (information from a report on the BBC website)”. In the first quote, we are warned by teachers that exam stress is causing students to become suicidal. I don’t know how it can become any clearer. The second quote may be from 2014, but, I believe, exams are only becoming harder and more stressful, and so it is likely that the numbers have increased since then. Now let’s talk about the 2nd quote… in 2014 there were roughly 58 suicides caused by exams (29% of 201=58). 2014 was around 8 years ago now, so if we assume that there are roughly 58 exam related suicides per year, we would get 464 teen suicides caused by exams. 464 suicides in the past 8 years. That’s actually frightening. And unnecessary... by simply putting an end to exams, we can quite literally save lives!

So why should exams be abolished? Well, clearly some students seriously struggle because of them, for many reasons: they add way too much pressure; they cause both mental and physical illness; they cause people to self-harm; and most importantly, they cause people to die. On top of all of this, there are many more which weren’t covered in this essay… But yet we are still forced to sit exams. So yes, exams may have some benefits and are good in a way, but the bad seriously outweighs the good.