Are exams the best way of testing students? They favour students with good memory.What is the alternative?

newmakes: Are exams the best way of testing students? They favour students with good memory.What is the alternative?
I find exams to unnecessarily stress out students. I s n’ there a better way of ensuring that students have grasped important principles and not just memorise facts? I think memorising and FORGETTING the next day after exams is not effective. WHat do u think?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Brittany
no! exams are the best ways to stressing someone out!

Answer by jes1219
I have the worst memory EVER!!! I found having weekly quizzes on what we learned that week was not only easier, and less stressful, but made my grade go up A LOT!

Answer by savvy1stmate
exactly!

I say written research papers are a better way to learn, enjoy what is being learned, and keep the knowledge that is learned for students.

Answer by elliot_janzen
I like your question because the stress and unlearning parts are true, but the fact is there is no feasable way of testing knowledge on a large scale basis then testing.

Answer by KJ
I think verbal exams are better than written. You can really tell if someone knows something by talking to them.

Answer by BellaLuna123
Exams are no good. All throughout school I did much better with teachers that used games or other ways to remember information, even if it was just a smaller type of test, nothing too long, boring and serious. We just used cheat sheets or got the answers from someone else and never learned the material if we didn’t want to. Don’t force them!

Answer by Becky B
i totally agree! and then the standardized tests come along, and we don’t know a single thing..

maybe there could be mini quizzes every day or two, that don’t count very much? and every few months there is a review of everything. no huge tests or stress.

Answer by David S
Many exams of the multiple choice variety are really tests of critical thinking ability, and language skill. I usually do pretty well on these, even if the subject is one that I am only a little familiar with.

In Mathematics, you really need to know how to work the problems. However, a low score can mean that the student has either not mastered the material, or just does not perform well under pressure.

Testing is an art. Done well, it can be a useful teaching tool.

Answer by graham a
O.K. this is quite simple. When education ends and you put what you’ve lkearned into practice, it is precisely you capacity to remember things that makes you an efficient emplyee. You don’t rush off to do a load of coursework, you have to provide on-the-spot answers. Stressful or not exams reflect the real world in Western society, welcome to it.

Answer by bestofthebestusa
We should give more emphasis on the practical exams (labs / projects / demoes etc.). This will reduce the impact of short term memory geniuses like me ( 🙁 )

Also this will ensure that the student with better grades will have more chance of succeding in professional career.

Answer by old lady
Exams are one way of testing, but not the only way. Another technique is to have the student demonstrate mastery of a subject. This is easily done in lab settings, or technical settings, but can also be done in regular academic classes. And if it isn’t possible to demonstate how a subject or a topic can be used, perhaps it shouldn’t be on the curriculum.

Answer by ahh_sweet_boredom
The point of an exam is to measure what information has truly been understood and retained. If the students have to go through the trouble of memorizing things before a test simply so they can pass I think the problem would actually lie in the teaching style, not the testing style. A couple Do’s and don’ts of exams for you anyways.
Do base the questions on the principles behind a concept.
Do test the students on one subject after at least a day of moving onto a new subject.
Do utilize the essay method. Even in a math class, students retain knowledge more effectively if they have to really think about, and organize in their own words why a concept works the way it does.
Don’t use multiple choice.
Don’t use questions that have answers easily found in a book or online…

Hope this helps.

Answer by Champagne Diamonds
Testing is a good way to find if students have grasped important principles. I do not think that they favor students with good memories.
Just trying to memorize facts for a test is a waste of time if you are not even bothering to study what you are being taught. To continue into college & even the work force, you need to learn & retain facts & information.
Instead of cramming for a test, maybe your time would be better spent by learning good, effective study habits so that you are retaining the information & facts that you will be tested on. As you get holder you will find that there is information you learned & you did retain through effective study habits, that will help you in college & life…

Answer by ~♥~
Actually…I don’t often memorize when I take tests at all. Maybe once in a while I need to, like memorizing the periodic table of elements or something but it’s mainly about application. For example, we don’t learn 3+2 by memorizing that the answer is 5, but we understand the process of getting there, and tests are a way of measuring this understanding. I guess sometimes for hard concepts, students need to memorize if they don’t get the subject (I do that sometimes). I think the processes of learning is what needs to be changed instead of testing…students shouldn’t have to remember things they have no interest in, because if they genuinely show interest in a subject, they won’t feel a need to memorize, and they will simply remember and understand the topic.