It is a common practice for schools and colleges to have examinations to assess their students' knowledge. Although whether tests are essential or not is still controversial, I do believe that exams are of utmost importance to students.
On the one hand, some people claim that exams encourage teaching to the test practice which means teaching a fixed curriculum focused on specific exams. This, as a result, leads to students' discomfort and limited proficiency about things not included in the exams. What's more, examinations have poor predictive quality because they only judge students' ability under set conditions and limited time. Assessing should be made through their daily performances at school as well as their attitude to studying. For example, many students who are very lazy at school still getting high results thanks to cheating while the good ones may perform less well due to anxiety. Besides, choosing exams as a way of judging the student's ability may put them under stress in order not to disappoint their parents and teachers.
On the other hand, however, exams enable both schools and the students themselves to know the level of their studying. They provide regular feedback to acknowledge students about their shortcomings to work out and improve to get better. Secondly, competitive spirits are promoted through exams. If they want to have good performances, they will need to enrich their knowledge and push themselves harder. For example, keeping up with the peer and fulfill themselvesfilthemselves gives students thể incentive to try harder to get high scores. Finally, exams can be considered as a way of revision, requiring students to thoroughly understand and master what they have learned. Without testing being compulsory, maybe the students will have no motivation as well as responsibility to expand their expertise. In conclusion, although assessing students' ability through different exams does bring some disadvantages, I personally feel that the benefits outweigh the drawbacks mentioned above.
