Writing Feedback / Many people believe that formal 'pen and paper' examinations are not the best [5]

Many people believe that formal 'pen and paper' examinations are not the best method of assessing educational achievement. What is your view of examinations? Give reasons for your answers.

Nowadays, the world is changing quickly. We should also change our thinking in the real life for success, even though in the examination format. Thanks to the benefits of new technology solving problems of traditional formal tests, the way of exam changing from 'pen and paper' to the other ways such as computer based exam is an irreversible trend.

Firstly, 'pen and paper' as the traditional format of the test leads to students to try to find out the trick way such as rote learning. Although, these candidates can reach the highest marks in the exam, they actually understand nothing. They just remember and write down exactly.

Secondly, the actual purpose of the exam is to test the knowledge of the student not the handwriting on them. It is not fair for the ones not good in handwriting on the 'pen and paper' test, because the teachers might be not happy with the bad writers as a result of the lower point of them. In the science area, for instant, this is very important to evaluate qualification of students. The lectures need to know how deep the students understand not care much about their paper decorate.

Lastly, the 'paper and pen' exams also cost more than computer based ones. School need to prepare enough teachers to correct during a limited time. And of course, they have to prepare pens and papers for students taking part in. That is a noticeable expense in examinations.

In conclusion, while traditional 'pen and paper' examinations certainly affect people's choices of testing knowledge, as those above reasons I do not believe that it is the best way to evaluate the quality of students especially in science fields.