Exams this summer may appear to be back to normal at first glance, but Covid fears are still having an impact on Baccalaureate and GCSE students.
The exams are taking place for the second time in a row after being canceled in 2020 and 2021.
The qualifications regulator said there were still some measures to compensate for learning disabilities this year.
Wales’ largest school hosts 6,500 lectures throughout the month, with more than 1,000 students in attendance at any one time.
At Whitchurch High School in Cardiff, which has 2,400 pupils, it is “really quite difficult” to make sure everything runs smoothly, said Deputy Headmaster Jonathan Davies.
Mr Davies said that after the first full year of school without Covid measures, exams had gone “fairly back to normal” but that “unfortunately the remnants of Covid-19 still remain with some pupils – they are very concerned”. .
Exams are spread across a range of school buildings and spaces – from 300 teenagers in the main gymnasium to smaller venues seating 70 or far fewer.
“It’s about the logistics of making sure every student has the right paper, every student is in the right seat, every venue has the right number of invigilators – people who start and finish the exam,” said Mr Davies.
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Arwen, 18, and Millie, 17, have already taken some practical tests for their A-levels but their written work will start next week.
They feel well prepared but are “very, very stressed” and “feeling the pressure” as they both hope to go to university.
Arwen thinks they benefited from the opportunity to take the AS exams last summer but missed out on the experience of the GCSEs because they were canceled in 2021.
“I had a very hard time learning to revise,” she said.
“The school did a great job of preparing us, but the extra support from the GCSEs up front would have made it a lot easier for us.”
“I feel like everything’s back to normal — almost,” Millie said.
“But it feels normal, it doesn’t feel like we’re disadvantaged in any way because we’re all in the same boat.”
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The exams took place in the summer of 2022, after teachers decided on grades in 2020 and 2021. However, some course content has been trimmed to reflect the significant disruptions due to Covid.
This year there are fewer measures, but most students have informed themselves in advance about topics that they can expect in the exams.
It’s designed to help focus the revamp, and the grades will still be a little more generous than they were before the pandemic.
The school has received more requests for special arrangements for exams that require some students to do their work in smaller rooms or on their own.
It puts “an enormous amount of pressure on schools,” Davies said, because they need to find extra space and chaperones.
Fresh from her GCSE history paper, 16-year-old Arabella said she was feeling “pretty good” and that the advance information had helped her.
“During lockdown, work has been put online for us so I didn’t feel like I missed anything from the course, but it makes it a little bit more difficult because you feel like you haven’t gotten everything done.” Experience that other people would have had if Covid hadn’t existed,” she said.
Eva, 15, is happy that she got a taste of some exams last year.
“When you get into 11th grade, you know what you’re doing, you don’t jump right in at the deep end.”
Qualification Wales described this year’s schemes as the “next step” on the way back to the pre-pandemic system, while continuing to provide support for pupils, schools and colleges.
“We know the pandemic is having a long-term impact on learners and we believe this is the fairest approach,” a spokesman said.
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