Conducting formal exams to assess students’ abilities and to judge the success of their education are common in many countries. This benefits students’ abilities by providing continuous practice for the main exam and by maintaining their focus on their education. However, some students feel stressed by continuous formal exams, which causes them to lose focus on their education. But, I believe that formal exams benefit students much more than being a drawback.
To begin with, students gain a great understanding of the main exam by attending formal exams. This also provides focus and motivation to ace their main exam and reduces any apprehensive feeling as formal exams guide the way of the main exam beforehand. For example, a higher secondary student told a reporter that their school used to conduct formal exams thrice a year, which helped them to understand exactly about the main exam and face the exam without any nervousness. They stated that this is one of the reasons they scored state first rank. Although some students are stressed and overloaded by the continuous practice of formal exams, this reduces interest and focus on their education, and they fail to do their best in the final exam. For instance, a news report stated that a boy who excelled in his grade at the start of higher secondary lost concentration and fell to the last position of the class. Then, he stated that formal exams were made mandatory and teachers started stressing the students to score well in the exams, which caused a loss of concentration in his education.
Furthermore, I reckon that formal exams have more benefits than drawbacks because, in my school days, I used to study for formal exams, which made the process of studying for the final exams easier. I covered mostly all the portions in the formal exams, and the only thing I did in the final exam was revising it properly. Generally, I consider that if students attend formal exams without any compulsion from teachers or parents, they can gain a huge amount of knowledge and experience from it.
Therefore, I conclude that formal exams have their own good and bad aspects, but if the exams are without the compulsion of others, the students will gain advantages only from the formal exams. So, the benefits of formal exams outweigh the drawbacks with certain changes in action.