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

In the

last

hundred years, ‘pen and paper tests’ have become the most popular way of testing people. These tests nowadays have a really big impact on a person’s career and

further

life, because your promotion in education to a higher level or getting a new job depends on those tests. In

this

essay I'm going to look at the advantages and disadvantages of

such

tests. In my view, some of the advantages are

firstly

, it is a tried and trusted system which has been around for a hundred years.

Secondly

,

this

system has been used because it simplifies the way of measuring the knowledge of the people.

Lastly

, it has

also

made the teacher’s work easier because there are proper marking schemes which can help in fair marking.

However

, these tests can be used to measure only simple skills because complex skills could depend on creativity or practicality. Another disadvantage is that pen and paper tests are subjective because different teachers can mark differently,

for instance

, one teacher could accept more things than another teacher. In conclusion, pen and paper tests are good to use but because a lot depends on these tests it would be an improvement if these tests were extended to parts which contain other ways of testing

for example

coursework.