There seems to be an increasing trend towards assessing students through exams rather than through continual assessment. What are the advantages and disadvantages of exams as a form of assessment?

40 minutes, 250 words at least.

Answer:

Students are assessed to measure their performance in their studies all over the world in all levels of education. (1) Some people argue (There is no scope of arguing this point. You have to assume that this is 100% correct.) that exams are being used widely as a method to measure the performance of students instead of taking record of continuous performance evaluation. Exams have both advantages and disadvantages.

1. Poor sentence structuring. instead of writing studies and performance separately, you should combine them as academic performance. Plus, ‘all over the world‘ should not be placed next to studies. Studies are not all over the world. Students are. Place it at the beginning of the sentence. Throughout the world, there are numerous ways to assess the academic performance of students.

NOTE: The structure of the opening sentence is poor. The second sentence is NOT needed. It does not serve any purpose. The third sentence does not serve any purpose. It will be better to write only two sentences.

Throughout the world, there are numerous ways to assess the academic performance of students. Exams, as a tool for assessment, offers a platform to judge all students and foster healthy competition. However, exams often force students to cram answers.

An exam is a widely accepted method to assess students. It provides a fair platform to judge students at the same time as it is taken in a controlled environment under the supervision of examiners at the same time. For example, in Bangladesh, Secondary School Certificate exam is taken at the same time with the same questions throughout the country so that students are tested under the same conditions. This is not possible if continual assessments are done throughout the year. In addition, an exam encourages students to be more focused on their studies as it brings competition among them. It is the method It is used to rank the students and top-ranked students are awarded scholarships most of the time. (How is it different from the continual assessment?) For example, the top three engineering students of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology are awarded scholarships and gold medals.

Note: Though the question is ONLY about exams as a form of assessment, you have to keep continual assessment in context since the statement compares the two. This will improve your task response score. That is, advantages of exams are in the context of the disadvantages of continual assessment. The disadvantages of exams are in the context of advantages of continual assessment. It is comparative.

On the other hand side, an exam encourages students to cram instead of understanding the topics. Cramming This may hamper the ultimate target of studies education and lead to disaster (explain disaster. It is too vague to convey a message.) prevent long-term career growth. (2) For instance, if civil engineering students memorize the calculations of structural design, they may fail to design a structure properly in their professional work. Faulty designs may lead to the collapse of the structure and cause a damage of life and wealth. (Bravo! excellent example. But, does ‘continual assessment’ rectify this problem?) Continual assessment often keeps students on their toes and forces them to understand concepts. In addition, exams bring tension and anxiety to the students which may cause mental diseases. A study has showed shown (past participle of show is shown.) that about 2% of the university students in Bangladesh suffer from mental problems due to the excessive pressure of passing the exams. (How does continual assessment solve this problem?) Continual assessment, in contrast, divides this pressure throughout the year and prevents a sudden piling up of anxiety.

2. Disconnect between the second sentence and the example. The second sentence should ONLY stick to the idea explained in the example. Do not mention education and be more clear about disaster. This may have serious long-term social, economic, personal and professional consequences.

In conclusion, exams, as a form of performance measurement of the students, have both positive and negative aspects. It is They are beneficial in terms of providing a similar environment and bringing competition. Encouraging cramming and bringing tension as well as anxiety are the limitations of it.

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