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

To begin

with positives, the process of examination gives leave little room for cheating. While the examination, there is always a compulsory presence of an invigilator whose role is to impede and stop cheating.

In contrast

, continual assessment poses the risk of cheating and manipulation in testing the students as it is done over the

year

, and is not possible to observe every movement of the students.

In addition

, conducting exams are an efficient way as it is done once or twice a

year

, and it provides enough time for students to keep up their preparations.

Nevertheless

, the approach of examination has some negatives.

Firstly

, sometimes a brilliant and very talented student can fail to perform well in an exam because of pressure during it. Some students probably fail as they cannot cope with the stress of the exam even though they have studied well, and eventually might have to wait for another

year

to pass that exam.

Also

, the students are tested on a limited range of knowledge as the exams cannot take into account all the material of the courses.

For instance

, it is possible to answer only a few questions because of a lack of time and resources. But the continual assessment takes into account a wide of range of topics while testing the students as it is done over the

year

. To sum up,

although

exams are very time-efficient, and give students little scope for cheating, exams causes pressure and stress and

also

test only a limited range of knowledge.