Exams

[Rocko]

Should exams be replaced with other forms of assessment?

Many students undertake examinations as the most popular form of assessment. It's the quickest way to quickly ascertain the abilities of an individual and rank them amongst their peers.

For students where the majority of their marks rests on exams, it can be totally hit or miss whether their hard work pays off or are scuppered by the stress of this hurdle (often with cases of bright students being overlooked). On the other hand, it may be the case that individuals are drifters for most of the year but somehow, annoyingly for others, sail through with little or no effort.

If you have an excellent memory, you can probably swat some days or hours before and get decent marks as exams generally rely more on memory than analytical thinking and proper understanding.

One solution maybe that you switch to more coursework based review over a period of time, showing the ability to research, fully understand and apply the issues learnt.

This won't work for all as I've experienced, some leave the work to the last minute, copy someone else's work and also achieve high marks.

Different courses have different types of assessment, Architects mostly practical lengthy projects, where as medics mostly exams.

Personally, I get a combination of both, and when I'm doing coursework, I wish I had exams, and when I'm having exams, I wish I had coursework.