Why British Youth Have More to Worry About Than Americans
Iâve never realised how good American kids have it when it comes to the stress of being accepted into a university. Americans take what is basically the entrance testsâ the ACTs/SATsâ during their junior year (Year 12 for the Brits), and can pretty much gauge where they can get into and with how much effort they can get in with, especially since almost every school has a range of scores that accurately reflect the middle 50% of the student body. The tests themselves are pretty easy to prepare for, seeing as they always have the same subjects (English, Math, Reading, and Science for ACT; Math, Critical Reading, and Writing for SAT) and they are MULTIPLE CHOICE. Oh, and itâs not uncommon for a student to take the ACTs/SATs anywhere from 2 to 6 times.
British students have it SOOO much worse. They have to prepare for their âentrance exams,â aka A Levels, for two years in a single, dedicated subject, like Economics or History. Itâs nowhere near practical for a student to retake the exam, especially if they took the A Levels and the AS Levels in one session at the end of their final year in school. And JESUS CHRIST the exams are no where close to being as easy as a multiple choice test. Those exams are written. Entire pages of my exam answer document have been dedicated to a single question. Then, just to add insult to injury, while us Americans are packing and prepping for the university we got accepted to in APRIL, British kids are just waiting to see if they made the grades to GET IN!!! It gets even worse when you mention that some Americans start their University courses before British kids EVEN KNOW IF THEYâRE GOING TO UNIVERSITY!!!  And God forbid the horror that befalls those who donât get the grades they need for their choice university and have to go through clearingâŠ
In all, I have so much respect for British students. They have far more strenuous testing conditions and far more stress to deal with. I wish you the best on your results!
