Exam season 2024
We share the latest updates from our student community on how students are feeling post-exam and talk on site.
Exam season updates
WEEK 1 (Catch up here)
WEEK 2&3
20th May - 7th June
We are now three weeks in to A Level exams with a short reprise for half term after week two. Since returning to exams on 3rd June The Student Room has been thriving, with sessions up 22% YoY for the first week back after half term and 5.5 million pageviews (3 - 9 June 2024).
Even though exams and Study help is the focus for Year 13s, they are also finding support in the Universities forums, speaking to Reps and discussing next steps in their student journey. The number of posts is up 35% YoY in University forums (between 3 - 9 June) from a Year 13 audience. Below is a snapshot of some of the papers sat by them so far...
MATHS (Paper 1)
So, A-level Maths Paper 1 happened and there was no easing them in gently by the sounds of it. Students were spiralling after the circle question, while integration was anything but seamless.
Looking at the poll for the exam, overall feelings towards this exam were notably more positive in 2023 when compared to 2024. Those selecting that they felt the the exam went ‘terribly’ in 2024 (10%), more than double the amount of votes from 2023.
Exam chat was busy following the exam.
PHYSICS (Paper 2)
Well this one exploded both on site and on socials for reactions to the exam with many students left hoping grade boundaries end up even lower than they felt walking out of that exam.
On the polls, most notably for this exam, there has been a 300% increase in those voting for ‘terrible’ from 2023 to 2024. ‘Not feeling great/not so good’ remained relatively the same at just over 21% of votes whereas those that voted for ‘Great’ declined by more than 50% from 2023 to 2024. Sentiment reflects a hugely less confident attitude towards the exam from students on site.
I genuinely think i got less than 35 marks after question 1 i couldnt understand a single question properly
Paper 1 was sat the week prior to half term but seemed to be slightly more balanced and also saw a YoY increase of those who felt the exam went ‘quite well’ up from 18.8% in 2023 to over 40% of votes in 2024. So hopefully Paper 1 will balance out some of the surprises Paper 2 brought.
BIOLOGY (Paper 1)
It’s not easy doing the sciences at A-level, with all the exams coming at the back end of the timetable. But biology finally got underway on 5th June with Paper 1.
When it came to the first Biology paper poll, we saw a slight increase in those voting for ‘Quite well’ and ‘Great’ in 2024 when compared to 2023, which is reflected in the sentiment on site.
View the post-exam conversation
It was very good at the start. got weird in the middle. last big markers were alright
That paper genuinely had me questioning my whole existence
The maths error question threw me slightly- took ages to work out
