With the pressures of AP exams, SAT testing, and university applications breathing down their necks, almost all Tallwood students can attest to having experience with academic burnout. They can understand the feeling of staying up late into the night, of having their futures hang in the balance during test day, and of knowing how much their lives depend upon a sheet of bubbles filled in with a pencil. However, what if the exam wasn’t just stressful for the individual, but also capable of shutting a whole country down? In Bangladesh, that exam is known as “the SSC” (Secondary School Certificate), a nationwide examination which is far more than a routine test; it is a cutthroat culture gatekeeper where a student’s entire future hinges on a single set of scores. It makes our most grueling finals look like a casual Tuesday.
In order to fully understand the pressures surrounding such an important exam, it’s necessary to move beyond the numbers and look into the personal experiences of two people– the first, a mentor of mine who has gone through this process before, and the second, who is really personal to me.
In the past, SSC examinations were looked at from the perspective of community life. It was not a personal challenge but more like an environment that literally filled up the neighborhood. Students studied so loudly that their voices could be heard across the walls, and parents gauged the effort of their children based on the loudness. Another characteristic feature of this period was the presence of an interesting mix of logic and superstition. For example, one of the most popular beliefs was known as the “egg theory.” It stated that consuming an egg in the morning of the examination day was considered completely forbidden, as it was believed that the circular shape of the egg would turn out to be a “zero” on the mark sheet.
However, in the case of somebody my age in my country, one can notice that the transition has been made from something communal to something highly personal. In fact, there is no sense of nostalgia in her memories about the SSC experience, as she remembers it as something real and intense. The “egg theory” and neighborhood noise become no laughing matter; the only thing left is the “eerie stillness” and “paralyzed mind”. Her fear is described as being “massive as Everest”; she goes on to describe how, whenever the morning school bell rang, her stomach would actually hurt because of the pain that she was going through. For this generation, the SSC becomes not a social practice but a hostile and mechanical “ladder.”
These two theories show that the SSC is not only an evaluation of the students’ literary knowledge or math skills. The SSC exam is a mental test that goes beyond mere testing. From the fear induced by the power of superstition to physical signs of stress, the SSC exam is the moment where the realization dawns upon a child that they have the fate of their whole family in their hands. Though we might grumble at the pressure caused by SAT, ACT, or even by our AP courses, the SSC exam is not comparable to any exam we have ever known before. Unlike our tests, which usually open up doors for individuals to pursue opportunities, the SSC exam is a collective burden, one that could decide your social status forever.
