How has the return to the exam hall affected stress among students?

Exam stress statistics UK

In fact, a survey by the Association of School and College Leaders looking at how exam stress affects students found:

• 82 per cent of headteachers had reported stress and anxiety to be higher than pre-pandemic
• 78 per cent of headteachers have received more requests for students to take exams away from the main exam hall.

A number of school leaders also reported that stress and anxiety was worse among A-level students who were unable to sit their GCSE exams in the summer of 2020 due to the national lockdown.

While it’s natural for exams to create a certain level of stress, there’s a number of steps school leaders can take to help prepare students with the effects of exam stress, with specialist education software able to bring together.

Which subjects are causing the most exam stress?

To get a better understanding of the GCSE and A-level subjects causing the most stress this summer, we analysed posts on the UK’s largest online student community, The Student Room forum throughout May 2022 to establish the areas where pupils were most likely to go online to ask for help and guidance, or in some instances, just to share any frustrations with fellow students.

We wanted to establish which subjects and courses were creating the most debate. We began looking at phrases including terms such as, ‘gcse maths’, ‘a level english literature’ etc. We then compared the number of posts for each GCSE and A level subject with the latest available uptake data by subject from the gov.uk website to create a ranking list of subjects by searches per capita.

Here is what we found for GCSEs:

Course	Uptake	Number of GCSE-specific posts on The Student Room	Index
Ancient Languages	11,860	69	100
Design & Technology	82,505	457	95
Computing	77,245	232	52
Biology	171,835	427	43
Physics	164,330	254	27
Mathematics	758,755	1012	23
Music	35,400	44	21
Social Sciences Subjects	39,395	47	21
German	37,035	44	20
Statistics	17,950	21	20
Chemistry	165,710	190	20
French	125,655	138	19
Drama	56,860	56	17
History	278,880	264	16
Spanish	109,655	103	16
English Language	729,605	412	10
Geography	268,180	134	9
Business Studies	95,610	35	6
English Literature	572,765	188	6
Art & Design Subjects	197,595	52	5
Media Studies	32,705	7	4
Religious Studies	239,680	48	3
Combined Science	840,955	157	3
Physical Education	71,425	11	3
Food Preparation and Nutrition	49,965	2	1

 

Renowned for their complexity, ancient languages came up top, with a high number of GCSE students seeking advice on how to cope with the stress associated with exam preparation.

Perhaps surprisingly this was followed by design and technology, a subject renowned for being coursework heavy. While many might assume that spreading coursework over the duration of the year would reduce stress, this actually appeared to have the opposite effect.

Involving a number of content heavy modules, computing, biology and physics ranked third, fourth and fifth as the most stressful subjects to study at GCSE.

Physical education was deemed the least stressful GCSE subject, perhaps owing to the vocational nature of  this courses.

The A level subjects generating the most posts in May were as follows:

A-Level course	Uptake	Number of A-level specific posts on The Student Room	Index
Mathematics	90,290	1523	100
Economics	32,700	535	97
Law	12,825	178	82
Physics	37,560	482	76
Chemistry	55,485	604	65
Drama	8,670	93	64
Biology	63,765	682	63
Psychology	68,315	664	58
Music	5,045	47	55
Computing	12,930	109	50
History	41,585	347	49
French	7,725	57	44
Design & Technology	8,340	57	41
Spanish	8,465	56	39
Sociology	39,825	260	39
Geography	31,810	194	36
Classical Subjects	4,600	25	32
English Language	14,230	46	19
English Literature	36,135	107	18
Political Studies	17,065	48	17
Physical Education	10,755	23	13
Religious studies	15,685	33	12
Art & Design subjects	39,370	82	12
Business Studies	35,285	54	9
Media/ Film/ TV Studies	19,025	29	9

 

Sixth form and college students considered mathematics, economics, law, physics and chemistry as the most stressful, with teachers and pupils often citing the significant step-up in the curriculum as the main reason for this. Not only is the content more challenging, the volume of work assigned also dramatically increases.

Business and media studies appeared to be the least stressful subjects for students aged 16 -18, with assignments staggered over a two year period.

Interestingly, despite art and design being one of the most stressful GCSE subjects, it didn’t appear to create the same level of stress for A-level students ranking mid-table. The humanities ranked in similar positions for both GCSE and A-level students, with history seemingly more stressful than geography.

A number of tools have been developed to help students better cope with workload, revision and exam preparation, with blended learning driving the need for cloud-based platforms accessible both in school and at home.

Using scientifically proven learning techniques, digital learning platforms can engage students in a way that builds confidence and self-belief, encouraging them to work smarter not harder.

Four top tips to help prepare students for exams and manage exam-related stress:

Building confidence

Short, high-quality audio-visual learning is proven to help learners absorb, retain, and recall subject knowledge. Shorter sessions engage students without overwhelming them with too much information too quickly - helping to build confidence.

Via specialist education software, schools can pre-select their choice of subject and exam specifications allowing students to access tailored content depending on the courses they are studying. Students can then either work through the content independently or their learning journey can be dictated by their teacher who can set assignments, recommend content, and mark summative assessments online.

Ongoing assessments

One of the main drivers of stress is the unfamiliar nature of exams and preparing students with ongoing assessments has proven to help them better cope with their GCSE and A-levels. By offering students exam-style assignments that they can access as part of their revision, they can practice essential skills and test their subject knowledge.

Tracking and monitoring progress

Often the revision is equally as daunting as the exam itself and it’s essential that students can work with teachers to effectively track and monitor their progress. Via specialist software, users can generate a wide range of bespoke reports to help identify any gaps or areas that need to be improved upon.

Encouraging and engaging learners

We offer a wide range of resources to raise awareness, train and encourage learners, students, and parents to use GCSEPod effectively. Regularly updated, we provide everything from videos, handouts, presentations, quick start guides, digital signage and parent letters in a variety of language