In this sophisticated world examinations are one of the prevalent methods to broaden students horizons. Although summative assessment methods are done at the end of each semester taking remedial measures while continuous evaluation plays a vital role. It is widely held belief that traditional end of the term exams are the best way to assess students educational achievement. This is because they helps to provide a final grade for the students and provide the authorities with information to take future decisions, however the ongoing progress of the students cannot be measured and the it limits the ability to give constructive feedback. To overcome this there are other formative assessment methods can be done during the teaching learning process.
The main purposes of conducting end of the semester examinations are to evaluate the students and generating information for the administration purposes. Firstly the end of the semester summative assessments determine the students achievement according to the diverse, formal, predetermined criteria for the purpose of determining the final grade point average or the percentage which is required for the completion of school work or the university for graduation purposes. These exams come up with feedback at the end of the learning which is not much more importance for the students progress .For an example the different types of pen and paper exams, presentations, and practical exams which are done at the end of the learning period are given marks which is added to the final marks. Hence provide transparent and fair method to award an educational qualification. Secondly, the top management needs certain formal criteria to evaluate and to take management decisions which is essential for the continuation of educational processes and organisations. Educational organisations needs some measurement for the academic work they have already conducted, identify the pros and cons and to make certain alterations to their process. For example educators, higher educational administrators need hold the exams for the completion of the course units and to direct the schools to improvements for the next academic year and also for the formulation of syllabuses. Thus, summative assessments are versatile and provide both students and management the expected requirement of completion of the course.
These end of the semester assessments do not assess for the ongoing learning process and teachers are unable to give feedback to the students. Teachers should be able to identify students’ flaws and learning gaps and should be able to scaffold the students from known to unknown which is facilitated by continuous assessments. In the classroom teachers ask different questions verbally, make observations at the practicals’ and mark the writing and give the feedback which is vital for this the students to understand their mistakes and also provides the teacher to make any alteration to the teaching methods before coming end to the semester whereas summative assessments do not facilitate to take corrective decisions at the classroom as the work has already finished. At the same time students has to be provided with constructive feedback to grasp and achieve the highest potential in their academic work. Hence, ongoing constructive feedback is vital in teaching learning process.
Finally, the different methods of formative assessments, authentic assessments are available to measure the students in the classroom. All the quizzes, laboratory reports, and also the questions asked during student teacher discussions can be included under formative assessments, which is vital for the students understanding and achievement. In addition to that authentic assessments which are done as a new method of teaching, gives much more related the real world where students should be able to apply their knowledge and skills to overcome real-world problems which make a very student more suitable candidate for the workforce.