Stress on a scale of 1 to 10

STUDENTS from Leeds Metropolitan University seem a happy bunch but dig deeper and many feel stressed about the forthcoming examinations.

Steve Hale rates his stress on a scale of one to ten as eight or nine. "Most third-year fine art students at LMU have been in over Easter preparing for their final assessment because there are just not enough hours in the day. Not only have you got to get work finished but you've got to have ideas and they don't always go to plan," he said.

Alison Nulty, a public relations student, found the shock of degree study after A levels difficult. "It's nothing like school. People said it would be easy, just a laugh, and that brings its own stresses, particularly at exams. We didn't know what to expect."

Becky Moyce, a BEd student, rates her stress as a maximum ten. "We're having a nightmare. We're cramming everything in to the last term. The standards are just too high, they are expecting too much of us."

Would another form of assessment reduce the pressure? Not necessarily, according to James Graham, a multimedia technology student. "At least with exams you get a very good idea of how you're doing as an individual. Group work is just frustrating because you can get the same mark as someone who has just been dossing and that doesn't give you much incentive."