# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Topic
Tests and examinations are a central feature of school systems in many countries.
Do you think the educational benefits of testing outweigh any disadvantages? Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience

In recent years there is a vast increase in discussions about how the examination systems should be at schools. Now students are undertaking too many tests and exams at school which do have many advantages both to the students and the teachers, but at the same time they also have certain drawbacks as well. The administration at schools need to think seriously about the outcomes of the examination systems they have, to test the students. In this essay I would like to give my own opinion after discussing both sides of the argument.

The first good thing about the exams and tests is that it is a method to test students how well they are learning from the lectures delivered in the class and how successful teachers are in conveying their knowledge. For instance, if a whole group of students shows poor grades in a subject then the teacher teaching that subject can be encouraged to work harder and improve his or her teaching skills to bring the students at the top. This is a strong point that favours the argument because teachers are the key figures in a school system and exams are mandatory to check their level of teaching.

The other, equally important factor in the favour of the issue is that exams encourage students as well to study, do more reading and writing and thus improving their general knowledge. If there are no exams and tests then students will not put any effort to learn and educate. Exams produces a state of terror that forces children to study. Moreover, exams bring students together, they do combine studies which help them to learn the essence of team work and they develop communication skill. Lastly, exams develop a sense of competition which also draws students towards books.

On the other hand, exams do have some disadvantages as well. The factor competition can be encouraging for some but it is a major factor that is causing immense pressure on the students and leading them to the state of depression. When students do not get good grades the are discouraged and at the same time they are forced, both by the teachers and the parents, to work hard putting them under more pressure. Now more and more students are involving in drug addiction to relieve from exam pressure.

To recapitulate, I concede that exams can be discouraging for the students in some ways but this does not mean that they should be removed from the system. The advantages of exam out ways its disadvantages. Students should be tested and then upgraded but at the same time weaker students should be given special help to improve.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'The advantages of exam out ways its disadvantages' - Help for ielts essay

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
TopicTests and examinations are a central feature of school systems in many countries.Do you think the educational benefits of testing outweigh any disadvantages? Give reasons for your answer, and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience In recent years there is a vast increase in discussions about how the examination systems should be at schools.

# data[].attributes.body
Review what you will cover or have covered in semester and--very important--why you've covered it. Then rank the material into three categories: "vital," "nice to know," "can get by without." Most exams will not ever get past the "vital" category.

Decide how best to test the "vital" material. For this, you may want to refer to Bloom's Taxonomy. Are you testing simple recall? Analysis? Application? Synthesis? There are key words that signal each of these tasks.

If you are testing large numbers of students, don't think that you are only able to test facts or recall. There are creative ways of using computer-scored exams to elicit all kinds of knowledge.

As you develop questions, you might consider soliciting exam questions from your students. The two major benefits of this are that it tells you what they think is important/interesting and it gets them to think about the course as a whole.

When you're done with a draft of the exam, take the exam and time yourself. If you can, ask someone else to take it, too. Often, you will find that instructions that are perfectly clear to you are not so clear to someone else.

Consider the layout of the exam. For instance, often with essay questions, we blend what we intend to be helpful background with the question itself, and students have to hunt for the question. Instead: put the background in one paragraph, and label it as such. Then put the question on a separate line. Again, in an essay question, try to focus on what you want. If you ask too many questions, you won't get a coherent essay, but a series of answers to those questions.

Beware of some dangerous words: "discuss," "analyze," and "explain." In some fields and for some faculty, these have very specific meanings that have been clearly conveyed to students. In many instances, however, we use these interchangeably, and really just mean "do something substantial with X." Think before you use those words. Another problematic phrase is "compare and contrast." The danger here is that you're really asking for a list-which is fine if that's what you want. But for an essay question, we're missing a "why?" that is, "what is the point of making the comparison?"

Closer to the final exam time, discuss the exam with your students, letting them know the kinds of questions you'll be asking and why.

After the exams have been graded, do a quick analysis of the questions and responses. Are there some that generated more incorrect or less successful responses than you expected? Make changes and note suggestions now, for next year. Do it while the exam is fresh in your mind.

# data[].attributes.body
Most students are afraid of examinations, but examinations are very important today. They are also very interesting.

Examinations are important because they compel students to learn. Without them most students would not learn. So they would know very little about the world. They would learn only subjects in which they are interested and ignore the other subjects which are thought to be difficult, though they are very important in the modern age.

Examinations also help us have some ideas about a person’s knowledge of certain subjects. For example, if a boy has passed the Primary Six Examination, we can at once know how much knowledge he has. Accordingly, we can have some ideas of what kind of work he can do. This is why most employers want to know what examinations a person had passed before he is given some work.

Finally, examinations are interesting because we can test how much we ourselves know. When we sit for an examination we enjoy answering what we know, though we feel sad if we are not successful in an examination.

# data[].attributes.body
Giving the opportunity for candidates / participants to take a practice or mock version of an exam before they take the real thing has huge benefits for all stakeholders. Here are 10 reasons why including practice tests within your exam programme will improve it.

1. Most importantly, practice tests tell candidates which topics they have not mastered and encourage them to focus future learning on weak areas.

2. Almost as important, practice tests tell candidates which topics they have already mastered. They can then direct their learning to other areas and spend minimal further time on the topics they already know.

3. Practice tests can also feed back to the instructional team the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate and for the candidate group. It can tell which topics have been successfully learned and which areas need more work.

4. It’s well understood in psychology that you are more likely to retain something if you learn it spaced (separated) over time. Since practice tests stimulate revision and studying, they encourage earlier learning and so space out learning, which is likely to improve retention. See this Slideshare for more information on how assessments can help space out learning.

5. The accuracy and fairness of exams can be impacted by some candidate’s fear or anxiety around the exam process. Practice tests can reduce test anxiety. To quote ETS on test anxiety:

“The more you are accustomed to sitting for a period of time, answering test questions, and pacing yourself, the more comfortable you will feel when you actually sit down to take the test.”

6. Accuracy and fairness can also be impacted by problems with familiarization or incompatibilities with the computers and software used for the testing. If the same equipment and software can be used in practice, this greatly reduces the chance of problems.

7. Taking a test doesn’t just measure how much you know, it helps reinforce the learning and make it more likely that you can retrieve the same information later. It’s a surprising fact that taking a test can actually be more beneficial to learning than spending the same amount of time studying. See Evidence from Medical Education that Quizzes Do Slow the Forgetting Curve for one of many research studies showing this.

8. Giving formative or practice tests seems to improve learning as well as final exam results. See Evidence that topic feedback correlates with improved learning or  Where’s the evidence for assessment? for a couple of articles with evidence of this.

9. Such tests are consistent with good practice and with assessment standards. For example the international standard on delivering assessments in the workplace ISO 10667 states:

“The service provider shall … where appropriate, provide guidance on ways in which the assessment participant might prepare for the assessment, including access to approved or recommended sample and practice materials”

10. It is crucial that exams  are fair and that they are seen to be fair. By providing practice tests, you remove the mystique from your exams and allow people to see the question styles, to practice the time planning required and to have a fair view of what the exam consists of. It helps level the playing field and promotes the concept of a fair exam, open to and equal for all.

# data[].attributes.body
A test or examination (informally, exam) is an assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude,physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs).[1] A test may be administered verbally, on paper, on acomputer, or in a confined area that requires a test taker to physically perform a set of skills. Tests vary in style, rigor and requirements. For example, in a closed book test, a test taker is often required to rely upon memory to respond to specific items whereas in an open book test, a test taker may use one or more supplementary tools such as a reference book or calculator when responding to an item. A test may be administered formally or informally. An example of an informal test would be a reading test administered by a parent to a child. An example of a formal test would be a final examination administered by a teacher in a classroom or an I.Q. test administered by a psychologist in a clinic. Formal testing often results in a grade or a test score.[2] A test score may be interpreted with regards to a norm or criterion, or occasionally both. The norm may be established independently, or by statistical analysis of a large number of participants.

A standardized test is any test that is administered and scored in a consistent manner to ensure legal defensibility.[3]Standardized tests are often used in education, professional certification, psychology (e.g., MMPI), the military, and many other fields.

A non-standardized test is usually flexible in scope and format, variable in difficulty and significance. Since these tests are usually developed by individual instructors, the format and difficulty of these tests may not be widely adopted or used by other instructors or institutions. A non-standardized test may be used to determine the proficiency level of students, to motivate students to study, and to provide feedback to students. In some instances, a teacher may develop non-standardized tests that resemble standardized tests in scope, format, and difficulty for the purpose of preparing their students for an upcoming standardized test.[4] Finally, the frequency and setting by which a non-standardized tests are administered are highly variable and are usually constrained by the duration of the class period. A class instructor may for example, administer a test on a weekly basis or just twice a semester. Depending on the policy of the instructor or institution, the duration of each test itself may last for only five minutes to an entire class period.

In contrasts to non-standardized tests, standardized tests are widely used, fixed in terms of scope, difficulty and format, and are usually significant in consequences. Standardized tests are usually held on fixed dates as determined by the test developer, educational institution, or governing body, which may or may not be administered by the instructor, held within the classroom, or constrained by the classroom period. Although there is little variability between different copies of the same type of standardized test (e.g., SAT or GRE), there is variability between different types of standardized tests.

Any test with important consequences for the individual test taker is referred to as a high-stakes test.

A test may be developed and administered by an instructor, a clinician, a governing body, or a test provider. In some instances, the developer of the test may not be directly responsible for its administration. For example, Educational Testing Service (ETS), a nonprofit educational testing and assessment organization, develops standardized tests such as the SAT but may not directly be involved in the administration or proctoring of these tests. As with the development and administration of educational tests, the format and level of difficulty of the tests themselves are highly variable and there is no general consensus or invariable standard for test formats and difficulty. Often, the format and difficulty of the test is dependent upon the educational philosophy of the instructor, subject matter, class size, policy of the educational institution, and requirements of accreditation or governing bodies. In general, tests developed and administered by individual instructors are non-standardized whereas tests developed by testing organizations are standardized.
Exams also help when you study about them, you revise or learn more about topics you know . it also teaches you new things.Exams also teach you how to fare.

# data[].attributes.body
Taking a memory test not only assesses what one knows, but also enhances later retention, a phenomenon known as the testing effect. We studied this effect with educationally relevant materials and investigated whether testing facilitates learning only because tests offer an opportunity to restudy material. In two experiments, students studied prose passages and took one or three immediate free-recall tests, without feedback, or restudied the material the same number of times as the students who received tests. Students then took a final retention test 5 min, 2 days, or 1 week later. When the final test was given after 5 min, repeated studying improved recall relative to repeated testing. However, on the delayed tests, prior testing produced substantially greater retention than studying, even though repeated studying increased students’ confidence in their ability to remember the material. Testing is a powerful means of improving learning, not just assessing it. In educational settings, tests are usually considered devices of assessment. Students take tests in class to assess what they have learned and take standardized tests like the SAT to assess their knowledge and aptitude. In many circumstances, such as university lecture courses, tests are given infrequently (often just two or three times a semester) and are generally perceived as a bother by faculty and students alike. We believe that the neglect of testing in all levels of education is misguided. To state an obvious point, if students know they will be tested regularly (say, once a week, or even every class period), they will study more and will space their studying throughout the semester rather than concentrating it just before exams (see Bangert-Drowns, Kulik, & Kulik, 1991; Leeming, 2002). However, more important for present purposes, testing has a powerful positive effect on future retention. If students are tested on material and successfully recall or recognize it, they will remember it better in the future than if they had not been tested. This phenomenon, called the testing effect, has been studied sporadically over a long period of time (e.g., Gates, 1917), but is not well known outside cognitive psychology. Most experiments on the testing effect have been conducted in the verbal learning tradition using word lists (e.g., Hogan & Kintsch, 1971; Izawa, 1967; McDaniel & Masson, 1985; Thompson, Wenger, & Bartling, 1978; Tulving, 1967; Wheeler, Ewers, & Buonanno, 2003) or picture lists (Wheeler & Roediger, 1992) as materials. There have been a few experiments using materials found in educational contexts, beginning with Spitzer (1939; see too Glover, 1989, and McDaniel & Fisher, 1991). However, the title of Glover’s article from 17 years ago still sums up the current state of affairs: ‘‘The ‘testing’ phenomenon: Not gone but nearly forgotten.’’ Our aim in the two experiments reported here was to investigate the testing effect under educationally relevant conditions, using prose materials and free-recall tests without feedback (somewhat akin to essay tests used in education). Most previous research has used tests involving recognition (like multiple-choice tests) or cued recall (like short-answer tests). A second purpose of our experiments was to determine whether testing facilitates learning beyond the benefits of restudying the material. In some testing effect experiments, a study-test condition is compared with a study-only condition on a delayed retention test. When the subjects in the former condition outperform those in the latter on a final test, one can wonder whether the testing effect is simply due to study-test subjects being reexposed to the material during the test. It is no surprise that students will learn more with two presentations of material rather than one (although some of the word-list experiments cited earlier overcame this problem; see too Carrier & Pashler, 1992; Cull, 2000). To evaluate this restudying explanation of the testing effect, we had students in our control conditions restudy the entire set of material—which should, if anything, bias performance results in favor of this condition, because students who take free-recall tests (without feedback) can only reexperience whatever material they can recall.

# data[].attributes.body
http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/educational-assessment/advantages-and-disadvantages-of-different-types-of-test-questions/

https://erwinuslayaski.wordpress.com/2013/02/09/some-advantages-and-disadvantages-of-essay-test/

http://www.essayforum.com/writing/advantages-exam-ways-disadvantages-help-37942/

http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08832323.1997.10116845

# data[].attributes.body
Studies are important because they enrich our lives and give us the necessary tools to become good, contributing citizens in society. College studies especially provide us with the knowledge and skills we will most likely use in our future career(s). From there, high school can be described as the lead-in for college, middle school for high school, and elementary school for middle school.

Exams are important for two main reasons - 1) they give us extra incentive to complete the studies (important because of the explanation above) and 2) they test our comprehension of our studies. Without the added pressure of an exam looming around the corner, many students would undoubtedly find it difficult to swallow their distaste for their most disliked textbook. Without tests, many students would also believe they completely understand the information even if they only have a very cursory understanding or in reality have some key concept incorrect. Tests help standardize our learning to make sure everyone understands the Pythagoras theorem (and everything else we have been tested on) as the same theorem.

# data[].attributes.body
“I hate exams!” This sentence in wrong on so many levels. Why hate the inevitable? Exams from ages have been an enemy to people of all ages. The moment the word exams come up the only things that pops up in all our heads is tension, planning, time shortage, lack of strength to face them etc etc. But why don’t we feel even once that it’s not that difficult too? Why don’t we feel how easy we can make it than condemning its bad? Why don’t we understand its importance than cribbing about how difficult it is? Most important is why don’t we ask these questions to ourselves? It is very simple that we have a pre-notion that it is something very difficult and bad. Let’s first eliminate this feeling from our mind to make everything so simple.

Examinations are a part and parcel of our education. They are here to test what we know. While the criterion of ‘judging’ a student in itself is a defected idea, exams are here to stay. Comparing our situation to what our parents and grandparents faced, we have it easy. The steps to our growth is continuously examining ourselves in all aspects.

# data[].attributes.body
Exams are the way to test our knowledge. Without conducting the exams and test students don't concentrate in their studies and learn their lessons properly. Exams are necessary in schools and colleges to find out the real skills, talents and knowledge of the students.

# data[].attributes.body
. Group examinations integrate many of the skills students need to become successful in life. Employers will benefit from a pool of future workers who have participated in a simulated decisionmaking process that stimulates intellectual and social development.

1. a way to know how well you understood the topics learnt.
Learning is a 2-way traffic. Whatever you learn in class, you need to apply. And examination is one way to determine how well learning has taken place - is through your answers.

2. a way to test your ability to discipline & perform under pressure / restricted conditions. During exam, you need to finish at a given time, to follow rules & regulations etc.

3. a way to know your standing among your friends/cohort. It serves as a benchmark of your ability & standing so that you know how much you need to improve.

PDF

All the students are not always the willing sorts to mind their lessons and prepare them adequately in order to reap the full benefit out of them. The system of examinations compels them to this direction.

In the public examination the examiners are not known to the examinees. The examiners have no scope to be prejudiced in their job of examining the scripts; and an honest assessment of the merits of the students can be made through examinations.

The richest endowment a student is offered by the examination is that he inculcates in him a zeal for healthy competition; and without this spirit a student can scarcely shine in life.

The present examination system may offer a possible chance to a mediocre student to score better results than a really meritorious one.
All the students are not always the willing sorts to mind their lessons and prepare them adequately in order to reap the full benefit out of them. The system of examinations compels them to this direction.

In the public examination the examiners are not known to the examinees. The examiners have no scope to be prejudiced in their job of examining the scripts; and an honest assessment of the merits of the students can be made through examinations.

The richest endowment a student is offered by the examination is that he inculcates in him a zeal for healthy competition; and without this spirit a student can scarcely shine in life.

The present examination system may offer a possible chance to a mediocre student to score better results than a really meritorious one.

# data[].attributes.body
1)Exams help a lot to bring an improvement in the individual's knowledge because they provide regular feedback to the students who acknowledge their shortcomings and work on them.

2)Exams also promote competition among students. They work harder to improve their knowledge and skills. In this way they learn more.

3)Exams are  excellent tools to determine the efficacy of teaching methods because teachers get an opportunity to monitor and evaluate their teaching strategies according to their student's progress.