Some people think that exams are a good way of assessing a student’s level. Other people believe that they put unnecessary pressure on young learners and tell us very little about their actual ability. Discuss both views and give your own opinion.

It is argued by some that exams are an effective way to evaluate the level of the knowledge of students, whilst others hold a belief that this type of assessment cannot score their real talent and also causes a redundant pressure on them. This essay will discuss both two points of view and argue in favor of the latter. On the one hand, exams are considered the most prevalent and fair assessment criteria among some people. Students are being taught the same syllabus and also are demanded to achieve the same questions just like their peers. In other words, there is no place for an unfair score on the level of one pupil since the rest of the class are taken the test equally. Many teachers in the UK, for instance, claim that exams are the most suitable for all children to prove with regards to what they have learned. On the other hand, subjecting students to tests, especially relatively younger ones, cannot provide any information about the ability of pupils. In other words, the format of the exams can be easily grasped by students, and besides the question types can be predicted beforehand for memorizing. Furthermore, memorized questions and answers are more likely to be forgotten after the test is taken. For example, a survey conducted in the schools of Exeter showed that students whose grades are scored could not able to remember correctly the answers to their test by around 75%. To conclude, people have different opinions about whether exams are good or not according to their score. I do believe that exams not bring out the true potential of students but just harboring stress for them.