Should Exams Be Replaced With A Different Form of Assessment?
Exams. Even the mere mention of the word causes some students to feel anxiety and stress. Although exams are supposed to be beneficial and test a student’s intelligence, they usually have the opposite effect – the immense pressure causes some students to achieve less than they usually could.
During exam time, there is a complete upheaval of a student’s routine; numerous sleepless nights, constant snacking on unhealthy foods and drinks to keep one’s energy levels high, and not to mention the severe emotional distress. Different students react differently to exams but for the most part almost every student feels anxious, stressed and unhappy during their exams.
Exams are supposed to test a student’s intelligence; however, it is merely a memory test. It encourages bad learning habits and ethics as students learn by rote rather than by understanding, analyzing and being creative. Moreover, it can cause extreme competition whereby students are bent on being the best and when this is not achieved they become severely depressed.
Therefore, exams should be banned! How many people actually believe that exams test intelligence? They may test your ability to work in stressful situations, and your time management. They may test your memorization skills. They may test your determination and how hard working you are but they do not test whether a student understands the subject.
In conclusion, exams should be replaced with a different form of assessment that actually tests a student’s aptitude and intelligence.
For example, coursework could be used as it tests a student’s ability to think outside the box and allows student’s enough time to present what they know, instead of testing how much students can remember in a limited amount of time. Even small quizzes on each topic or assignments could be used as they require students to apply their knowledge and learn information in an orderly manner according to topics. In the words of Winston Churchill “there is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”
So let’s change this ridiculous form of assessment so that future generations won’t have to go through the same amount of hardships and troubles as we did. We can make the world a better place and give our students of the future, a brighter, healthier and happier lifestyle.
BY TASHA DE SILVA
During exam time, there is a complete upheaval of a student’s routine; numerous sleepless nights, constant snacking on unhealthy foods and drinks to keep one’s energy levels high, and not to mention the severe emotional distress. Different students react differently to exams but for the most part almost every student feels anxious, stressed and unhappy during their exams.
Exams are supposed to test a student’s intelligence; however, it is merely a memory test. It encourages bad learning habits and ethics as students learn by rote rather than by understanding, analyzing and being creative. Moreover, it can cause extreme competition whereby students are bent on being the best and when this is not achieved they become severely depressed.
Therefore, exams should be banned! How many people actually believe that exams test intelligence? They may test your ability to work in stressful situations, and your time management. They may test your memorization skills. They may test your determination and how hard working you are but they do not test whether a student understands the subject.
In conclusion, exams should be replaced with a different form of assessment that actually tests a student’s aptitude and intelligence.
For example, coursework could be used as it tests a student’s ability to think outside the box and allows student’s enough time to present what they know, instead of testing how much students can remember in a limited amount of time. Even small quizzes on each topic or assignments could be used as they require students to apply their knowledge and learn information in an orderly manner according to topics. In the words of Winston Churchill “there is nothing wrong with change, if it is in the right direction.”
So let’s change this ridiculous form of assessment so that future generations won’t have to go through the same amount of hardships and troubles as we did. We can make the world a better place and give our students of the future, a brighter, healthier and happier lifestyle.
BY TASHA DE SILVA
