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

In recent years, the approach of assessing students through exams has risen in popularity over the alternative of continual

assessment

.

This

essay will highlight both the benefits and drawbacks that result from

such

an approach.

To begin

with the positives, a crucial advantage that examinations have as a part of

assessment

is that they leave little room for cheating.

This

is because exams are usually undertaken in the presence of an invigilator, whose job it is to detect any candidate breaking the rules.

In contrast

, continual

assessment

increases the risk of plagiarism since assignments are often completed with the help of the internet.

Besides

reducing cheating, exams are

also

more time-efficient. As they tend to only appear once or twice per year, they free up more time for students to revise and prepare.

Nevertheless

, assessing students via examinations does present some problems.

For instance

, some students are extremely intelligent and creative, but when put under pressure, their minds can go blank. Considering that exams are situations of high pressure, it is no wonder that even the brightest of students sometimes perform poorly. Another significant disadvantage of

this

system is the narrow range of information which students are tested on. Unlike with continual

assessment

, the small window of time in tests limits how many questions can be asked,

thus

failing to test students' knowledge in full. In conclusion,

although

formal examinations are beneficial in terms of cutting out cheating and improving efficiency, it is important to consider that they

also

harm some students' concentration and are arguably not as thorough as continual assessments.