I'm Katie, I'm 15 years old and I attend a public mixed school.

A lot of newspapers have previously, and will no doubt once again, publish "Exams are getting easier" articles as research has shown that for the 29th year exam results have gone up.

I am currently doing my GCSEs. As I am going into a Year 11, I have had a full school year of Year 10 completing assignments and doing exams that form a significant percentage of my final GCSE grades for that particular subject.

I have really struggled to do so, because there are different subjects to revise and learn in a short period of time. I've tried really hard to put as much effort into every single one as possible. Some subjects I am finding easier than others not only due to my individual capability, but because of the varied teaching methods of teachers. (Some students find learning easier with different teaching techniques, there is normally no right
or wrong way, it depends on the student).

With all the different exams and assignments taking place, it almost feels as if the GCSEs are falling on top of me, and I find it really stressful when I try so hard to understand things and do my best in the subjects.

So when these newspapers and columnists say "Exams are getting easier" when you have spent so much time and effort into doing your best and learning, it almost makes it feel like a complete waste. Like you are doing your GCSEs to get good results for them then to be written off as people saying its nothing to do with the pupil themselves studying and revising for hours: it's just that the exams are getting easier.

There have been times when I would lose sleep because I'm catching up and revising on work that needs to be done, and would deliberately not go out with my friends and stay in and finish work. I'm doing all of this to get the grades I want and to feel satisfied knowing I got the best that I could. However, if whatever grades I get are only going to be passed off as "the exams were easy anyway" it really makes me think that sometimes all the sacrifices I'm making are almost pointless.

I personally find it funny that these people making the negative comments are going on from experience: how in 'their day' the exams were a lot harder, hence why people didn't do as well. Has anybody stopped and thought that maybe the teaching techniques have improved over the last 30 or so years? These people usually haven't been to school for a while and haven't experienced the new curriculum and new teaching ways, and I would love to see the critics who think the exams are easy to have a science paper put in front of them and for them to do as well as the majority of students do now.

It is also quite a knock to your confidence. The adults that read the paper and believe that exams are easier could be future employers. Clearly, they are going to be a lot more impressed by someone who is older and took their exams when they were 'harder', than by someone younger, who is just as intelligent and has worked hard for the grades they got, because exams are 'easier'. With all the lack of jobs for the younger generation, going out in the world is already quite scary, so these comments can leave you with even less confidence to find a job.

I am hopeful that people don't always believe what is being said about the exams. There have been tests to prove the rumours are not true. Even if the exams were easier, it doesn't mean that most students aren't trying their hardest to achieve these so-called 'easy grades'. We are devoting a lot of time and effort into them. It's not as if we are sitting back doing nothing and waiting for our 'easy' exams to come along and be so 'easy' that we won't need to worry about it.

I'll be trying just as hard to get the results that I'm aiming for, no matter what these critics say.

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