Exams Are Unfair Assessments Of Progress Essay, Research Paper

Exams Are Unfair Assessments of Progress

Most educators believe that exams are the best way to judge a student’s

ability. They believe that students’ ability can be judged depending on the

marks or grades that students get in the exams. They also think that studying

for exams can help students review and absorb the things they have learned.

Actually, many people hate exams because they disagree that exams are realistic

tools for rating progress. The three main reasons for me to believe that exams

are unfair assessments of progress are: the effects of pressure, the reliability

of the exam result and the purpose of study.

First of all, exams cause too much pressure for students. Some students

commit suicide before they take an exam because they do not have self-confidence

to face to the exam. Some students commit suicide after their exams because they

can not get good marks in their exams and they can not stand the pressure of

their parents. In addition, many students usually forget all of the things that

they have already learned when they are taking their exams because they are too

nervous, but they can remember all the things again after they finish their

exams. Also, many students suffer insomnia because they are too worry about

their exams. They do not have enough sleep, so they can not do well in their

exams.

Secondly, the exam results of the students are not reliable. Some

students cheat in the exams. For example, they just copy the answers from their

cheating papers to their answer sheets. Although their answers are correct, they

do not really know the answers. Also, some student guess what questions might

appear in the exams and only study that part of the course material. They can

get good results in their exams without studying hard if they are lucky.

Furthermore, many students get poor results in the exams because they do not

have enough time to finish the exam papers, but not because they don’t know the

answers. The marking standard of examiners is also very unsteady. Sometimes, the

marking standard might depend on the emotion of the examiners.

Last of all, the original purpose of studying is distorted. It is not

the right way that people only study for exams. The worst thing is that people

do not do anything else except studying for their exams.

In conclusion, I agree that exams are unfair assessments of progress

because the pressure caused by exams is too large, the result of exams is

unreliable and the purpose of studying is misunderstood. I this that day-to-day

work done by students is a fairer way for rating progress.