Examination with emotions in Romanian. How students and parents experienced the first test of the National Assessment

Tears of joy, smiles, hugs, but also disappointed looks, fixed on the ground. These are the emotions experienced today by the eighth grade graduates who passed the most important exam in their lives: the National Assessment, the Romanian Language and Literature test.

At the Regina Maria school in Sector 6 of the Capital, the parents who accompanied their children to the exam waited for them for more than two hours in the sun, in an unbearable heat. But, despite the heatwave that hit Bucharest since the early hours of the morning, people did not move from the middle of the sidewalk. Gathered in front of the entrance gate, sitting on curbs, leaning against walls and fences, the parents experienced the moment each in their own way. Some with coffees in hand, tired, sleepless and with disheveled hair, others with pretzels, eating compulsively, fanning themselves with fans or just a few sheets, the parents gathered in the shade and began to comment on the topics that had already aired on Internet.

Many of them knew each other beforehand, and others became friends on the spot: moms, dads, grandparents, friends, brothers, sisters, even neighbors. The whole neighborhood seemed to be boiling with a smoldering fire, but not because of the temperatures, but because of the immense pressure in the souls of the people, the emotion that had already become a collective one.

“I’m staying here until he comes out. I want to see his face. To see him smile. And to hold him in my arms. It doesn’t matter what he did on the exam. We trust that he will be fine because he has worked very hard.” Ștefan’s mother, a student in the 8th grade D, told us.

“I am overwhelmed. live emotions very big, I could even say bigger than the child”, another mother told us with a smile. “But it will be fine. The girl worked very hard and I have no problems. But, let’s see what he will say when he comes out of the exam. We did not try to put pressure, to insist with the learner, we beat her on the head, nag her. Instead, we tried to help her as much as we could, support her, encourage her and be there for her. Let him know that he has all the support from us”, the woman continued.

She admits that the emotions she experienced also influenced her daughter’s emotions. “In general, children are influenced by our emotions, it matters enormously how we manage this moment in their lives, the pressure at home, at school, the pressure they put on themselves matters.”

“How was it, mommy?” “Horrible!”

The other mothers approve of the woman’s words by nodding their heads. I know all too well that fear and the fear of failure are contagious, and insecurity and lack of confidence can make the difference between a good grade and a failure. Raluca wrings her hands and walks around looking through the bars of the wrought iron fence.

“That’s where he will come. In that alley. I can not wait. Andra worked a lot. He studied all year. Meditations, individual study, many assessment tests, school preparation. But we still have emotions”. Another parent told us that he does not yet know which high school his child will choose, but he hopes for a score of over 8.50 in the Evaluation.

However, Denisa, David’s mother, is not too confident. “I know he should have worked more. He didn’t really prepare. He entered the exam with only what he learned at school. He told us that the Grade is not very important, that this grade will not decide what he will do in life. David wants to attend a dual high school to be a plumber like his father“, the woman told us. And she didn’t even have time to finish her sentence when David appeared next to her. He was the first student in the school to pass the exam. “how was it mommy Horrible!” replied the boy.

Starting at 11:00 a.m., the students of the Regina Maria school started to leave the exam one by one. Most of them, relaxed and smiling, were looking for their parents. “Was well. I wrote everything. The second subject was a bit difficult. Complicated. He gave us to do it argumentative composition about a character and I didn’t have enough details. But compared to Simulation, today’s test was easier. I hope to get a 7.50″, Andrei told us.

The parents of the children who were still in the exam gathered around the chubby boy. “I hope I did the composition well”, the father of another student said more to himself, thinking of his own child, and then crossed himself.

“We had to prove that this one is that one. I do not know what I did”

Vlad, another student we spoke with, confessed that the grammar exercises put him in difficulty. But the kid didn’t seem worried at all. He had done well in Literature.

“Grammar Exercise Eight. There were many confusion that could be done. But I managed to compose. I didn’t find it difficult. I hope to get over 9.00. And in math… I’m sure I’ll get 10″.

Andrei, a colleague of his, also had problems with grammar, but he admitted that the test was easier than the one from Simulation.

“I was confused by those sentences, I don’t know what kind, in which we had to prove that this one is that one. But the characterization was good. I managed to finish it”.

When he came out of the school gate, Ștefan, a nice kid with glasses, was welcomed by his parents and colleagues with thunderous applause. The gesture was the outburst of emotions gathered in everyone’s soul and which poured out as if in unison.

“Subject 1 It was easy. I really liked the lyrics. In topic two you had to characterize a character, but you didn’t know who the character was. He didn’t say her name. You had to figure out if he was the main character. It was such a trap, but I hope to get an 8.50, God help a 9”, the boy told us, and then he turned to his mother. Without a word, but with tears in her eyes, the woman took her child in her arms. “Come to mommy, baby! Bravo! It will be okay!”

Ariana hopes for a grade above 9. The child came out of the exam smiling and hugging her mother. who was almost trembling with emotion. They were laughing. “How was it? Was well! Well done mom! Bravo!” The woman’s face was full of happiness.

“I found the characterization a bit difficult, but I think I managed it. Otherwise, everything was fine, an ok, acceptable exam. I also did well in grammar. I like it more, that’s right.” I asked Ariana how she was doing emotionally, at which point she smiled and looked at her parents knowingly “I was fine..the parents don’t know…”, the student laughed. “Mine had more emotions than I did.”

“I had a premonition that I would make mistakes in grammar”

Diana, on the other hand, was not surprised by the characterization she had to do in the exam.

“It was characterization last year as well and I worked a lot on it. It didn’t take me by surprise. I had some problems with grammar, I think I made a mistake on simple requirements because of emotions”. Diana told us she hadn’t slept very well the last two nights. “I had great emotions. I had nightmares with the Romanian. It was as if I sensed that I would make mistakes in grammar”.

The sidewalk in front of the Regina Maria school became today, for a few hours, the place where time seemed to stand still. With their eyes fixed beyond the high iron gate, with a heart like a flea, with the thought of the children and barely controlling their emotions, the parents experienced a unique moment, which they will go through only once in their life. “I look at my boy and I don’t realize how time has flown. It seems like only yesterday we were together, in the school yard, at the beginning of the year celebration, when he entered the preparatory school. Now we are waiting to see which high school he will be admitted to”the mother of another student who had not yet finished the exam told us.

The little children have grown up, and after today’s hop there is another one: on Wednesday the children will return to the banks to take the Mathematics test.

What will they do until then? Many of them told us that they would go with their parents to get ice cream. To better bear the heat of these days of fire.