Nowadays, the majority of the education centers evaluate students’ performances through their exam results, not continual assessment. Albeit the fact that there are numerous drawbacks of exam assessment such as a stressful test environment and health setbacks, there are also some advantages to it like comprehensive checking and trustful results, which will be explained in detail in the following essay.
On the one hand, advocates who argue against the evaluation of students through exams tend to posit that exam conditions cause nervousness. To illustrate, some students feel nervous thinking they will not be able to finish on time or feeling less confident about their knowledge when engaging in exams. For instance, our school conducted research among 10th-grade students who could not pass the final exam, and found that the majority of them were nervous during the exam which resulted in forgetfulness and decreased confidence during the assessment. Moreover, the pressure associated with overthinking about exams may lead to mental health setbacks such as depression, and this illness can completely decrease the enthusiasm for studying.
On the other hand, supporters of exam assessment assert that exams show the overall knowledge of a student. Unlike continual assessment, which may focus on specific topics, exams require students to revise all lessons, ensuring a thorough understanding of the curriculum. To make it clear, in daily testing teachers are asking questions about a specific topic. As a result, some students are learning lessons for one day then they forget it, but while preparing for the exams they are revising all the lessons, which leads to remembering them everytime including the exam. Furthermore, it is challenging for undergraduates to copy during the exams because of the eyes on them. As an example, in the final exam of the eleventh grade, certain students who were considered smart got low scores not because of stress, but because they copied from classmates, which illustrates how cheating can affect fair assessment.
In conclusion, while there are several drawbacks of checking students’ capacity through exams such as the stress causing the low points and health setbacks, there are also advantages of it that could be considered such as no cheating and comprehensive checking.