IT is the time of year when a lot of 16-year-olds suddenly start to feel slightly nervous because the time has come when the exam results are finally being released.

The majority of students worked hard all through May and June in an attempt to get the highest grades possible.

Whatever the result, most people are safe in the knowledge that they have given it their best shot and have done their best.

So naturally, after all the hard work and effort it is always a little annoying to hear on the news the normal complaints about exams not being as hard as they used to be.

On getting my GCSE results I heard a report on the news about GCSEs being too easy and too many people getting A grades. I also heard a similar report on the release of my AS-levels.

It is a well known fact that exams are easier now than they used to be but the students taking the exams cannot choose whether they take a modern A-level exam or one from the 1970s.

They simply have to do the best they can in the exams they are given, and it is always disheartening to receive your results only to hear a load of people on the news complaining about dropping standards.

My point is simple, the exams maybe easier but that is not the fault of the students who take them.

Things have changed in schools, corporal punishment is no longer allowed and the style of teaching has changed a great deal over the past couple of decades.

Education has developed, some things have changed for the better and some things for the worse.

You cannot stop change, and if easier exams are a side-effect of changes made in schools, then that is not the fault of the students taking the exams.

It is unfair that students work hard only to find their achievement slated by critics.