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 assessment

It is certainly true that a lot of educational systems tend to assess their students through final exams. In

this

essay, I will discuss the perceived drawbacks and benefits of

this

trend. One of the pros of

this

tendency is that it gives students the opportunity to prepare well for a test knowing that the fate of their academic year depends on that;

therefore

, they are forced to take their preparation seriously,

for example

, in Algeria, pupils are required to pass an examination

at the end

of the year in order to graduate or pass to the next level.

Moreover

,

this

also

gives scholars who failed on their homework or other related projects throughout the year a chance to recuperate and to learn harder to pass,

thus

, their failures will not break their spirit knowing that they have another occasion to succeed. Despite the obvious appeal, there are disadvantages to

this

trend, if the evaluation of the level of a learner is only based on an exam

this

may eventually, sabotage their chance to graduate,

for instance

, if a student got sick on the day of the exam, he won't be able to answer as usual, a relevant example, is what happened in Tunisia on 2018 when a scholar got ill on the day of the exam and he had to go to the hospital and

as a consequence

, he failed.

Furthermore

, a scholar may decide to not attend classes if he knew that homework and presence are not evaluated, and with the availability of the internet in every house, he could stay at home, download the lessons from the internet and prepare for the tests.

As a result

, the rate of attendance in schools may decrease.

To conclude

, as I have discussed in

this

essay, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages of

this

trend.