‘I used to hate physics and chemistry!’ is the first reaction of 35-year-old Nellie Benner, when she is asked to take the physics (havo) exam for this section. Followed by: ‘As I’ve gotten older, I’ve started to like it more and more. I wonder if I’ve started looking at it differently.’
And, is that true? Yes, as it turns out when Benner (“I’m totally hyper!”) struggled through the 27 questions. ‘What I never understood before is that physics is very much connected with life. With cooking, for example, and with how things work in practice.’
Take the lyrics about Chris McDougall, a stuntman who catapulted himself into Dubai. Benner: ‘That’s cool! It immediately appealed to the imagination.’
With the questions (such as: calculate the efficiency of the catapult) Benner can do little as a ‘total alpha with fun package in his pocket’. ‘You really have to know the formulas for that.’ But with the help of Google and her remote friend, who sends some answers from work via the app, she comes a long way.
Isn’t that a bit of cheating? No, says Benner. ‘I used to cheat a lot too. Many life themes can be googled these days, so education should be much more about working together and looking for information in my opinion. Cheating is proof that you have initiative and creativity.’
She still remembers the panic that used to overwhelm her when she didn’t know an answer. Now she manages to stay calm. “I thought: I’m just going to see what I know at all.” And that led her to a discovery: ‘My logical thinking has improved!’ She can therefore simply answer the question whether a thin copper wire with a resistance of ’35 Ω’ is thinner or thicker than a human hair.
“Thicker anyway,” she says resolutely. “I thought it would be clever if it were thinner than a human hair.” And indeed, the answer turns out to be correct, even without having performed the requested calculation. For Benner, this is proof that you don’t need to know everything to make it far in life.
Tip for the German exam
‘Do not immediately read the entire text, but first the title’, says German teacher Saskia Ebbers (Mrs Ebbers on YouTube) from Winschoten as a tip for all vmbo students who are taking final exams in her profession today. ‘Look at the pictures and then read the question. Do not look up all the words, but do look up the ones in the question or answers, so that you understand the meaning. Do you have time left at the end? Then pick up the difficult texts again and look up more words.’
Cross out box to succeed
Just like last year, final exam candidates can choose not to count one final mark for the result. This may not be a core subject, such as Dutch, English or mathematics. The mark for the subject in question will appear on the list of marks, but will therefore not count towards obtaining the diploma. Education minister Dennis Wiersma wants to meet graduation students with this, after three unruly school years full of corona measures and class cancellations. Last year, ten percent of the students managed to pass on the basis of this so-called ‘thumb rule’. The Examination Monitor of the Education Executive Agency (DUO) showed that pre-vocational secondary education students most often dropped mathematics (not a core subject at that level). Havists most often chose history and pre-university students for economics. This year, too, the most popular cross-out section will be examined again, says the DUO spokesperson. ‘The results will be sent to the House in September.’