Commentary: Turns out the stress of not having mid-year papers leads to mock exams

A child can be very good with his day-to-day work but crumble under the pressures of test taking, especially when the stakes are high.  Learning competency and proficiency do not translate into examination-taking competency and proficiency, which are also important in education and in life.

It’s like being told that you’d have to do a competitive 10km race, but all you need to do to prepare are small daily jogs and stretches and occasional runs around the school.

All around the world, summative examinations provide a snapshot of a student’s achievement and is thus used as a benchmark for accountability and certification. Gearing up for them requires a different type of preparation.

Mock exams are the analogous trial run – a student at least gets a sense of their own fitness level ahead of the real deal or consider how to manage their time, pace and fatigue in a simulated environment.

Sure, a student could try and recreate this at home by setting their own timed session with a past year paper or plough though the 10-year series. But often, that simply adds to undue stress at home and it is hard to get a sense of a true examination setting when you are in the safety of your home study space.

The reality is, even if mock examinations could benefit more students, it is only available to those who attend tuition centres or those willing to fork out one-off fees to participate.

ARE PARENTS BEING HYPOCRITICAL?

It may seem hypocritical for parents to complain about the systemic stresses of school yet double down on examinations. But look at it from another perspective, there are still examinations – year-end and national ones – that have hefty repercussions if a child crumbles under the weight of the unfamiliarity of exam-taking stress.