The Positives of Examinations

Assessment is a tool that serves a number of purposes: it provides a justifiable evaluation of a student’s ability and it shows what a student has understood of a subject. It also offers a means of ranking by showing where a student sits in relation to their peers and allows teachers to draw assured conclusions about each of their students.

There are a variety of forms that assessment can take:

• Assignments 
• Oral Presentations
• Multimodals
• Performance
• Creation of a work of art 
• Examinations

Students tend to have their own preferences as to which type of assessment method they prefer, based on their particular talents and strengths. Each form of assessment allows students the opportunity to display different skills and thus, subject areas assess by a variety of methods to allow students the opportunity to display what they know.

Assignments provide students with the opportunity to explore and expand their learning and they allow for high-level thinking. However, the main concern with this form of assessment is that it is difficult to determine if all work submitted is that of the student. 

Oral Presentations and Multimodals rely on a student’s preparation and their ability to be able to deliver their information. Obviously good public speaking skills and confidence are important to assist in this process.

Similarly, for performance, be it for Music or Drama, or the creation of an artwork relies on preparation, specific skills, practice and being able to convey a message to the audience.

Examinations provide greater certainty that the work is that of the student, as there is greater monitoring. There are those who argue that examinations do not allow students to present their best work, as they are under pressure and time constraint. However, there is evidence to suggest that examinations enhance learning. (Testing the testing effect in the classroom M. McDaniel, J. Anderson, M. Derbish & N. Morrisette published in The European Journal of Cognitive Psychology Vol 19, 2007). The rigour of studying exercises the mind. Revision needs to be an active process. Rereading notes is too passive and does not work the mind. Self-testing via recreating examination conditions is a great way to see what you can and cannot do. It provides the opportunity to discover what you do not know prior to the examination and gives time to follow things up with a teacher. Rote learning also has its issues; a memorised response will not always answer a specific question. Students need to be able to create a response from their knowledge that addresses the question.

With examinations approaching, our students are encouraged to look at this form of assessment positively. They do not just provide an opportunity for them to demonstrate what they know, they also have the ability to increase their learning via working their brain as a muscle and creating memory pathways. I hope with this in mind, our students approach their revision with a renewed purpose and I wish them all the best for their upcoming examinations.