Florent Lefortier answered
Exams are horrible, I know. Unfortunately, they’re also necessary.
Why Do We Need Exams?
Exams provide evidence that the student has learned something, and ensure that college graduates actually deserve their diplomas.
Think of it this way: Would you trust a surgeon to perform heart surgery on you, if they’d never taken any exams? You’d have no way to be sure if they were good enough. For all you know, they could have spent their college years playing Angry Birds at the back of the classroom.
Without exams, a college education would mean nothing - if you had the money, you could get a degree in whatever you wanted, and you wouldn’t even have to know a thing about the subject.
And let's be honest - nobody would pay attention in a boring class if they knew they weren't getting tested on what was being taught!
Different Types of Examinations
Timed tests aren’t good for all subjects - often, the only thing being tested is your ability to remember tiny details, and the bigger picture is lost completely.
I don’t see the benefit of timed exams in Arts subjects like Literature, and I don’t think your ability to recall the number of participants in a psychology study is any reflection on your understanding of the subject.
In that sort of situation, an essay done at home is usually a much more accurate way of judging somebody’s ability. The stress of timed exams can often lead to students forgetting things, too.
However, where science is concerned, the names and locations of different muscles, and the reaction between two different chemicals...these things are important. It’s in subjects like this that timed tests are more useful than essays are.
Why Do We Need Exams?
Exams provide evidence that the student has learned something, and ensure that college graduates actually deserve their diplomas.
Think of it this way: Would you trust a surgeon to perform heart surgery on you, if they’d never taken any exams? You’d have no way to be sure if they were good enough. For all you know, they could have spent their college years playing Angry Birds at the back of the classroom.
Without exams, a college education would mean nothing - if you had the money, you could get a degree in whatever you wanted, and you wouldn’t even have to know a thing about the subject.
And let's be honest - nobody would pay attention in a boring class if they knew they weren't getting tested on what was being taught!
Different Types of Examinations
Timed tests aren’t good for all subjects - often, the only thing being tested is your ability to remember tiny details, and the bigger picture is lost completely.
I don’t see the benefit of timed exams in Arts subjects like Literature, and I don’t think your ability to recall the number of participants in a psychology study is any reflection on your understanding of the subject.
In that sort of situation, an essay done at home is usually a much more accurate way of judging somebody’s ability. The stress of timed exams can often lead to students forgetting things, too.
However, where science is concerned, the names and locations of different muscles, and the reaction between two different chemicals...these things are important. It’s in subjects like this that timed tests are more useful than essays are.
