Syria Today | How did you find this year's baccalaureate examinations?

How did you find this year's baccalaureate examinations?

Reham Sheikh Musa, 17, sciences student: "The questions this year, especially the maths ones, were very difficult. This is my second year taking the Baccalaureate. I passed it last year with a low score and I think this year it will be the same. I will not be able to repeat it a third year. I think I will end up studying at university according to my scores this year. That is the only thing I can do."

Ahmad Kunbous, 18, sciences student: "This year in general was not that bad. However, my family spoiled my hopes of entering medical college because all they wanted me to do was study. Their pressure only made me more stressed. Acceptance into university should not be based solely on one month of exams that depend only on memorisation and the number of hours spent studying."

Somayya Abbas, 18, literature student: "The questions this year were difficult and covered the entire curriculum. They required in-depth study, focus, day-to-day follow up during the school year and complete knowledge of all the texts. You needed a tutor to do well in the exams this year because the majority of the questions focused on material which was at the end of the books and many government schools did not finish the whole book."

Dima Korki, 18, sciences student: "Personally, I'm doing fine with the exams, but that is no guarantee that I will be going to the best university in the country. I'm worried that if I can't enter a Syrian university, I will have to travel abroad or else study at a very expensive Syrian private university. Things are becoming more and more difficult. Even the open learning and virtual university programmes only choose students who meet very high requirements."

Omar al-Sarhan, 19, sciences student: "This year was awful. In addition to worrying about the high cost of private institutes, there was a social dimension that I hated. Whenever someone saw me they always asked how many hours I studied per day or whether or not I would get high enough marks to get into university. I will repeat the exam next year. It has become a tradition, especially in the scientific baccalaureate, to repeat the baccalaureate if you want to score well. I saw many students crying while leaving the test room because of the difficult questions."