[alienasa]

> Really, it sounds to me as though the main problem might be that these kids are coddled before they reach university and maybe have unrealistic expectations of themselves.

This is a problem I observed and experienced myself. Many kids (especially at elite schools) have been carefully honed to excel in high school and on tests so that they can get into good colleges. They start to think that they are massively intelligent and can do anything as long as they apply the same techniques.

Then they arrive at college, where all of a sudden a massive proportion of the population is at least as smart as them, if not smarter or harder working. Just as they are dealing with a bunch of emotionally roiling events such as living alone and having to make new friends, kaboom, their goes their overinflated sense of self esteem.

[Ntrails]

Sometimes I wonder whether the problem isn't actually over preparation for testing - because that's where the stress is.

When I was at prep school exams were just a special week at the end of each term (maybe year, it was a while ago) - but not much significant effort was made to prepare in any way. They were simply a measure of how much had been gleaned from lessons.

A couple of weeks later we'd get a special "exam form orders" describing our results in relation to our peers (which happened every fortnight regardless - it's just this one was based on exams). Some people cared more than others, but I don't remember anyone being distraught before or after.

I'm also not sold on the fact that the kind of revision typically practised leads to long term retention - but that's just my humble opinion.