Why oh why do our exam boards and quangos insist on bringing forward the summer AS exams by a few days every year?

I can see no pedagogical argument for students completing their AS final exams before the summer half-term.

There may well be administrative and bureaucratic reasons, but why should they deny students the opportunity of a few more weeks’ preparation?

This might be more palatable if the exam series were still not over-crammed with the dreadful experience of students sitting more than one assessment per day or their whole AS programme within a few days.

This exam series and assessment period is stressful enough without increasing thoughtlessness on the part of our exam administrators. Can I press the “dislike” button?

Stephen Hickman, Head of psychology, Harris Girls’ Academy, East Dulwich, London.