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

Nowadays, many educational institutions are shifting towards conducting annual examinations rather than having frequent assessments to evaluate the performance of

students

. In

this

essay, I will discuss the merits and demerits of

this

trend

in subsequent paragraphs.

To begin

with, there are two main advantages associated with

this

trend

. One of them is a healthy competition spirit; when schools conduct examinations,

children

feel motivated and they put their best foot forward to perform better than their peers.

For instance

, surveys have proven that the inclusion of examinations has inspired

students

to put in more effort and perform well in their academics. Another merit of

this

approach is increased self-confidence among

children

. When

students

start appearing for

exams

, they tend to push themselves beyond their potential and unleash hidden skills.

This

leads to an increased confidence level and makes them ready to face challenging tasks. Despite the merits, there are a few downsides connected to

this

trend

. If

students

study only to clear their annual

exams

, they will simply memorize things without trying to understand their respective course contents.

This

will not only

limit

their knowledge but it will

also

limit

their practical exposure.

For example

, many South Asian schools have started conducting practical sessions to make sure

students

do not

limit

their studies to theoretical knowledge.

Moreover

, focusing only on academics restricts

children

from developing their overall personality.

Students

tend to feel the pressure of

exams

and try competing with their peers, and in

this

rat race, they hardly focus on developing their persona. To summarize, assessing

students

by conducting

exams

can develop a spirit of competition among

students

and increase their confidence levels.

However

,

this

trend

can

limit

the overall development of

children

and they could end up without having no proper practical knowledge.