Success in formal 'pen and paper' examinations is often seen to be a sign of intelligence. To what extent do you agree with the view that formal examinations measure intelligence? How can students be assessed?

Examinations are one of the most common methods of measuring learning in educational systems throughout the world. At virtually every stage of the learning process,

exams

are used to verify that the learner is ready to move on to the next stage.

However

, many people believe that the role of examinations should be reconsidered. There are clearly certain advantages to

exams

. They help to ensure fairness by imposing the same conditions on all exam candidates. They are

also

relatively versatile; different types of exam questions,

for example

, multiple choice questions and essay tasks, can test different sorts of reasoning abilities.

However

,

exams

also

have clear drawbacks. Test-wise candidates can often perform well on

exams

without having good underlying knowledge or skills.

On the other hand

, some test-takers perform poorly in

exams

simply because of anxiety. Some teachers and learners focus only on those aspects of the curriculum that are likely to be tested,

thus

narrowing the educational experience for all. A number of measures should be taken to address these concerns. Whenever possible,

exams

should match the content and activities of the learning environment. Exam tasks should be varied to give fair opportunities to candidates with different types of skills. Other types of assessment should

also

be considered; assignment writing,

for example

, to assess independent learning and research skills, or group projects, to measure teamwork ability.

Exams

clearly have a role to play in ensuring proper, objective assessment of achievement.

However

,

exams

need to be carefully designed and supplemented with other forms of assessment if they are to be a truly useful component of the educational system.