Only formal examinations, written or practical, can give a clear picture of students' true knowledge and ability at University level. Continuous assessment like course work and projects are poor measures of student ability.
How far do you agree with this latter statement?
It is widely believed that the only way to measure one's experiences and knowledge is through verbal and practical testimonials, whereas unending standard projects are considered to be ineffective tool for estimating students' ability at University level. The main aim of this essay is to show my opinion concerning both claims.
With having several millions students being taught in various parts of the globe, it is becoming an urgent issue to find a beneficial method of assessing students' performance in terms of academic studies. Therefore, the majority of university authorities rely on the practical and written types of examining the candidate knowledge for a number of reasons.
First, without being interrupted by outer factors such as variation of answers, like in tests, or the limitation of time in computer assistant examination, a written form of answering the questions is a pure way of conveying knowledge while being examined.
Second, I have an impression that the practical explanation of ideas is the best way of showing something to others that one knows, because she/he can avoid different misunderstandings between the student and the examiner, which usually occurs in written type of assessment. In other words, accompanying visual materials with verbal speech is supposed to be qualitative approach for this problem.
As for course work and projects, however, it can be noticed that the time and availability of sources draw a line concluding that these types of works are more likely to be useful way of learning something, not the tool for evaluating ones knowledge.
To summarize, I tend to feel that the type of examination is important, because it the thing that determines the condition which a person will be examined in. Therefore, taking all the advantages of written and practical approaches of measuring ones ability, it can be concluded that these kinds are more accurate than the other ones.
How far do you agree with this latter statement?
It is widely believed that the only way to measure one's experiences and knowledge is through verbal and practical testimonials, whereas unending standard projects are considered to be ineffective tool for estimating students' ability at University level. The main aim of this essay is to show my opinion concerning both claims.
With having several millions students being taught in various parts of the globe, it is becoming an urgent issue to find a beneficial method of assessing students' performance in terms of academic studies. Therefore, the majority of university authorities rely on the practical and written types of examining the candidate knowledge for a number of reasons.
First, without being interrupted by outer factors such as variation of answers, like in tests, or the limitation of time in computer assistant examination, a written form of answering the questions is a pure way of conveying knowledge while being examined.
Second, I have an impression that the practical explanation of ideas is the best way of showing something to others that one knows, because she/he can avoid different misunderstandings between the student and the examiner, which usually occurs in written type of assessment. In other words, accompanying visual materials with verbal speech is supposed to be qualitative approach for this problem.
As for course work and projects, however, it can be noticed that the time and availability of sources draw a line concluding that these types of works are more likely to be useful way of learning something, not the tool for evaluating ones knowledge.
To summarize, I tend to feel that the type of examination is important, because it the thing that determines the condition which a person will be examined in. Therefore, taking all the advantages of written and practical approaches of measuring ones ability, it can be concluded that these kinds are more accurate than the other ones.
