From Assistant Principal Learning Enrichment
To Exam or Not To Exam??
This week our Year 12 students commenced their HSC Trial Examinations. It is a stressful time for our community – students, staff, and parents – and, inevitably, the question of the value of exams is raised.
Exams form an important part of a robust assessment program. Assessing student knowledge and understanding in a variety of ways over time is essential to give students every possibility of demonstrating what they have learned and how they can apply that knowledge in different circumstances. When I was at school, tests and exams were basically the only way we were assessed. Thankfully, across all courses a wide variety of methods are now used - from speeches to research, multi-modal tasks, and practical work – to help teachers form a more accurate professional judgement of student achievement.
Why do we still have examinations? There are some key reasons why these still form part of developing the whole picture:
- Exams can focus on a student’s breadth of skills and knowledge. We want future doctors to be able to draw on knowledge of body systems, and future teachers to know a full range of teaching and learning skills.
- Exams make cheating difficult. In the age of technology and AI, the good old take home task alone cannot provide reliable evidence of exactly what a student knows and can do.
- Exams do enhance learning. There is evidence that undertaking exams deepens learning. Studying for exams is exercise for the brain. The process of recalling information stored in the brain strengthens memory pathways for future uses. This means that in future careers and circumstances people encounter the information they need is now easier to access.
(Adapted from an article in The Conversation, December 19, 2014)
So, exams form part of a comprehensive assessment process. However, it is important to remember that they are not the ‘be all and end all’ of assessing student understanding. Exams last no more than a few hours – learning is a life-long process.
