Jack Baker: Please support Bristol students sitting GCSEs

The past two years of my life culminate in this moment. I have one and half hours to prove to some examiner in a dingy room that I can multiply, subtract and divide.

I'm feeling under pressure, so why am I being told that this exam is easy?

It's the morning of my final GCSE maths exam and I'm sitting down to breakfast and an omega three tablet – a vain attempt by my parents to improve my IQ.

I pause with a spoonful of Bran Flakes halfway to my mouth and feel my self-confidence drain away. I'm looking at the headline story of a national paper which reads: "Exams Made Easier; Better Results Again."

It's not just me that's read the headline, my whole school year has too.

We went into that exam knowing that however well we did, and especially if we did well, the media would come down on us like a ton of bricks being dropped onto an innocent lamb. It would be slaughter.

It can't be just me that sees the negative influence of these demoralising and biased stories, surely? If I hear another adult saying, "of course, exams were more difficult, back in the day", I think I will resort to placing my hard-won GCSE certificates in the recycling bin (at least I paid attention to environmental impact in citizenship lessons).

GCSEs are, in fact, still hard, and here's why. They are the first major exams that any teenager can face. They can have a shaping influence on our futures. And the stress! When we get home from school after having say, a history exam, we have to spend the rest of the day and night revising for the science exam the day after. Sometimes exam boards even manage to squeeze two exams into the same day to ensure that you develop a nice writing callous on your finger.

Well apparently I'm a lone voice in saying this, because many newspaper headlines seem to be written for the sole purpose to annoy and upset the very students I feel they should be supporting.

I for one would have appreciated a welcome newspaper headline on the morning of my exam saying, "Good Luck!" with a picture of an old man with a semi-toothed smile and an emphatic thumbs up. One can dream.

Someone needs to stand up for students and take action, or at least bring the issue into the public arena.

I understand that these are gripping news stories that look great as a front page headline each August, but behind the headlines are the efforts of some extremely stressed students – and their omega supplement-buying parents.

Such stories about the dumbing down of exams undermine every school's hard efforts to make A* grades a possibility for every candidate.

So, I'm refusing to be beaten by exam statistics – I've proved I can multiply, subtract and divide after all. I will bring this issue to the eyes of the public and earn a stronger voice for young people.

The exams are different, not easier, and I – with the help of my vitamin supplements – will keep testing myself to set the record straight.

Jack Baker is a Year 12 student at Clevedon Sixth Form