Many people believe that formal 'pen and paper' examinations are not the best method of assessing educational achievement. What is your view of examinations?

Educational tools and methods have significantly improved over the years. One of the educational aspects that still have arguments on is how to assess educational achievement. Many people insist that formal examinations are not the best

method

. In

this

essay, I will evaluate

this

approach

, as well as other

assessment

techniques, and how combining them is the most efficient way of assessing. The

first

method

of

assessment

is, as said, the formal examinations. These examinations are set at the end of the term to measure the educational achievement of students by answering questions and solving problems. Some of the advantages of

this

approach

are assessing the academic skills of the students and their intellectual response to problems in a limited time.

However

, there are many drawbacks,

such

as providing only one chance for students to prove their abilities.

Moreover

, its

assessment

focuses more on memorizing information rather than learning and improving. Another

assessment

approach

is through doing projects, seminars, and research.

This

method

allows a great opportunity for self-learning and

applying the knowledge the

Suggestion

applying the knowledge

students acquire in real-life problems. Students would feel the connections with the subjects, which will improve the level of learning. As well as developing communication skills and working as a team.

However

, some difficulty could face the teacher in ensuring that each member participates. The

third

method

is continuous

assessment

through the term. The teacher assesses how much each student understands and learns a specific skill or a topic of the subject.

This

approach

allows the student to catch up with his/her colleagues, and for the teacher to determine the strengths and weaknesses of each student individually, to modify the teaching plan. But

this

technique could be applied only in small classrooms. Overall, each

assessment

method

has its advantages and disadvantages, and that implies the efficient

approach

of combining between at least two of them.

This

could be an optimal solution to compensate for the weaknesses of each of them to improve the students learning experience.