Evaluating students’ performance at school through standardized tests gains popularity nowadays compared to other forms of regular assessment. Although this trend can be beneficial to educators in terms of assessing students’ abilities and have quick adjustments to their lessons, it is not without drawbacks in terms of reliability.
On the one hand, the main advantage of standardized tests is that they are extremely convenient assessment methods. Examinations are a quick way to find out high performers proficient in testing and other individual skills. To get high scores on tests without studying too many hours a day, candidates must have the ability to manage their schedules. Additionally, candidates must be experts in solving problems to solve as many questions as possible in such a limited time. Another benefit of organized tests is that they save a great deal of time and effort for educators. The reason is such exams are designed for the whole nation or the local areas so that examiners can recognize the ability of students in wide areas. For instance, Universities in Vietnam can enroll new students based on their scores on the National high school graduation test. Furthermore, the test results don’t take too much time to be published and quick feedback can be given, therefore teachers can adjust their lesson plans based on these results.
On the other hand, the drawbacks of regulated tests can be summarized into two main points. To begin with, exams can be an unreliable method of evaluation as they are often used to assess important grades, thus can be too stressful for students so that they cannot express their full potential and real abilities, some might even cheat in the testing rooms in order to meet their parents and teachers’ expectation. Besides, the pressure of tests can also lead to many mental health problems such as sleep disorders, and worse, suicidal thoughts. For more information, India witnesses the highest rate of students committing suicide in Asia. Moreover, traditional exams aren’t capable of assessing student’s communication and teamwork skills, which are equally important as other individual skills and will be necessary in their jobs in the future.