Exams Give No Real Indication

“Everybody is a genius, but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid” said Albert Einstein. The implication is that people might be judged wrongly should they subjected to inappropriate tests of abilities. Examinations standardized to some extent, are a commonly used to evaluate people’s capabilities. Give the diversity of talents and abilities in people, examinations do not give a real indication of ability for three main reasons.

Firstly, the success cannot be evaluated by exams because some people are theoretical while others are practical. Some people have photographic memories, others are amazing with memorization. Some students can study for weeks and not understand anything, some students learn so much better with the hands on approach, others do better by simply reading. For example, some students are smart in school or university and get the highest marks but when they start to work they find it very difficult to put their education and knowledge into a practical use. Unlike others who do not do well in their studies but are successful in their jobs. Exams just test people’s memory. They do not test their intelligence and ability to apply what they have learnt to solve practical problems.

Secondly, the medical condition or social situation before the exam can cause failure. For instance, many students sometimes face sudden illnesses that may require surgery such as appendix, tonsils or accidence resulting in broken limbs. Others might have family problems such as divorces between parents, living with stepmother or stepfather and losing something valuable. For that reasons, when students face such external circumstances resultant poor exam score. These would then give an inaccurate reflection of students progress and learning abilities. Furthermore, exams give too much stress, panic and anxiety. They may destroy students when they are forced to worry about nothing else but a grade or pathetic number. Students should be credited for their merit , commitment and character.

Finally, writing can be challenging for many students and this affects their final results. Not all of people find it easier to express themselves on paper. Others who perform much better in oral tests and presentations rather than written examination. They are likely to be dissuade an tasted by any form of written examinations. One good example is about very successful people who took an IELTS exam and got high score on speaking but very low on reading and writing. As a result, when people understand that students all learn in a different way, how they insist on examining them in the same way.

To sum up, Exams put unnecessary stress on young and developing students, which do not prepare them for any ‘real world’ scenarios. Indeed, testing students ability through examinations is unfair way to illustrate the student capabilities. In order to have robust evaluation procedures in the future, a possible compromise would be to use both forms of testing ability through written and practical examination.

German philosopher and poet named Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche; he said “There is more wisdom in your body than in your deepest philosophy”