This year, no fewer than 182,000 students took their final exams. Most of them can complete a long school period, others have to practice exams again. (Former) students from North Holland agree on one thing: such a phone call from school is nerve-wracking.
17-year-old Amy had many things going through her mind in the run-up to this afternoon. “I found it extremely exciting,” says the HAVO student from Amsterdam. Like other students, she could be called from 2 p.m. “I received a call at 3 p.m. and they immediately said: ‘Congratulations! You passed.’ That was of course very nice to hear.”
Amy: “I barely got a passing grade for the social sciences course. I was nervous about that, but I got an ample pass at the central final exam, so that was a huge relief.”
The teenager wants to take a gap year in the coming year. “I’m going to work a lot and really want to go to New York City.” Cities such as Paris and London are also high on her wish list. “After that I want to do teacher training.”
But first the teenager enjoys the moment. “We’re going to celebrate with cake and dinner. I’m really looking forward to it.”
“My teacher had built up some tension,” says pre-vocational secondary education student Noud (16) from Enkhuizen. “My name was spoken very slowly, but then it was quickly said that I had passed.”
The teen was called just after 2 p.m. That is often not a good sign, but in Noud’s case, few students failed in his year. “Two students from my year did not make it, and then the teacher came to me.”
After the summer, Noud will start studying hotel management at secondary vocational education. “I would like to work in the catering industry, so in a restaurant or hotel. That seems like a lot of fun.”
After this afternoon the flag will be flown out and cake will be given. Tonight the 16-year-old student is surrounded by friends and family. “My brothers from Friesland are also coming especially for me to celebrate. We will all have dinner together and then I will do something fun with friends. Just sit on the couch. That will be fine.”
“I was nervous all morning,” says Wouter (19) from Hilversum, who would rather not have his photo on the site. “I couldn’t eat anymore and got a stomach ache. Fortunately, I was called at the beginning of the afternoon.”
The pre-university education student from ‘t Gooi failed physics and chemistry. However, it is easy for him to pick it up. “I actually only need to get a 4.8 in chemistry, then I have passed.” If that doesn’t work either, the teenager could take another exam in adult education. It makes him hopeful. “But of course I would prefer to just have a summer holiday.”
At the time of the conversation with NH, the pre-university student is drinking ‘consolation champagne’, but after today the teenager has to take out his exam book again. The first re-examination for the chemistry subject will be held next Tuesday. When asked what the environment can do, he says: “By leaving me alone as much as possible. It won’t help me if friends invite me to all kinds of things. Then I get tempted.”
“I had the idea that I would have succeeded,” says 16-year-old Didier from Haarlem. “But a very small voice in my head sounded a little louder.” In the end it turned out to be unnecessary, because the young man from Haarlem passed his HAVO. Yet receiving that phone call was also nerve-wracking. “My phone didn’t work and my mentor called four times to tell me the news.”
Didier’s mother then came up with the idea to reset the phone. After that it worked. “I had asked my mentor not to make jokes. I really didn’t want to hear things like: ‘Unfortunately I won’t see you again next year’. Fortunately, she stuck to that.”
If it were up to the 16-year-old Haarlemmer, he would study film next year. “I applied to the University of the Arts in Utrecht, but I was not accepted there.” He is using this year to work on his portfolio. “I’m going to write a lot, film and do creative things. You also have quite a lot of preliminary training that you can do. And then I’ll just try again.”