The SAT, an admission test recognized around the world, is designed to assess a student's competency for college. The latest SATs reading exams, however, have proved to be so difficult that it has become a source of frustration and stress among students and teachers in the U.K.
Teachers Criticized Latest SATs
According to teachers, many pupils dissolved into tears while taking the SATs exams because of the extremely difficult questions, Mirror reported. One young girl even suffered a nosebleed due to stress over the exams.
Teachers argued that the questions in the SATs exams were more appropriate for 15-year-old students rather than the 10- and 11-year-olds who took the tests. The teachers were also confused about the questions in the latest SATs exams themselves, adding that the wording and vocabulary of the questions were presented in an unclear manner.
About 600,000 students undertook the harder SATs exams, which were introduced this year based on the new national curriculum rolled out in 2014, Mirror further reported. The U.K. Department of Education argued that tougher SATs exams will help students perform better at school. They also said it will assist teachers in determining whether pupils are competent in their literacy and numeracy skills.
Schoolchildren Strike Against Harder SATs
Earlier this month, thousands of schoolchildren protested against the tougher SATs exams and spent a day of leisure instead of attending classes. According to a separate report from Mirror, the protest called Let Our Kids Be Kids was led by concerned parents who claimed that children as young as six and seven cried and suffered sleepless nights thanks to the harder SATs tests.
Parents argued that the tough testing is making pupils feel like they are huge failures even at a young age. They added that students are being overworked by the unnecessary stress brought upon by the exams. These hardships might be deterring children's interest in learning new things.
Schoolchildren At Risk
Nick Gibb, Minister of the State at the Department for Education, condemned the protests, saying that parents are depriving their children of a day's worth of education because of the campaign, Mirror reported. Gibb argued that a child's future is at risk if he/she doesn't have a firm grasp on literacy and numeracy early on in their lives.
A survey found that almost 90 percent of 10- and 11-year-old students in England feel pressured to excel in examinations, according to a report from BBC. However, 48 percent of the pupils surveyed said they don't mind going through the SATs exams.
