IELTS topic: Your view of "Pen and Paper" Examination

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

Examinations are one of the most common methods of measuring learning in education systems throughout the world. At virtually every stage of the learning process, exams are used to verify that the learner is ready to move on to the next stage. However, many believe that the role of examinations should be reconsidered. 53

There are clearly advantages to exams. They help to ensure fairness by imposing the same conditions on all exam candidates. They are also relatively versatile; different types of exam questions, for example, multiple-choice questions and essay tasks, can test different sorts of reasoning ability. However, exams also have some drawbacks. Test-wise candidates can often perform well on exams without having good underlying knowledge or skills. In contrast, some test-takers perform cannot achieve a satisfying result because of anxiety. In this case, teachers and learners focus only on theses aspects of the curriculum that are likely to be tested, thus narrowing the educational experience for all. 105

A number of measures should be taken to address these concerns. Wherever possible, exams should match the content and activities of the learning environment. Exam task should be varied to give fair opportunities to candidates with different types of skills. Other types of assessment should also be considered, assignment writing, for example, to assess independent learning and research skills, or group projects, to measure teamwork ability. 66

In conclusion, it is convincing that exams have a role to play in ensuring proper and objective assessment of achievement. However, exams need to be carefully designed and supplemented with other forms of evaluation if they are to be a truly useful component of the education system. 47 / 271

In conclusion, it is convincing that exams have a role to playplay a role in ensuring proper and objective assessment of achievement. However, exams need to be carefully designed and supplemented with other forms of evaluation if they are to be a truly useful component of the education system. 47 / 271

this essay is good (i mean you have good ideas), but... they ask for your opinion(!!), you don't need the 3rd paragraph because they don't ask for solutions. the 2nd paragraph is not ok either, because this is not a discussion.

so you should decide whether "pen and paper" examinations are the best method of assessing educational achievement or not and then give reasons + your opinion.

be carefull at the types of essays and their structures! good luck.

Hi Luca emma,


my opinion + solution is acceptable. so i will keep my third paragraph


this paragraph is fine.

Thanks

I prefer you should review IELTS writing task 2 marking description (public version) first, then come back here to provide your future comments to other members in this forum.

Cheers

Hi xyx0905,

I think your essay is good in overall, it's easily readable. My only opinion is that your second paragraph is actually the discussion on "pen and paper" examinations, but I can't see any word to mention "pen and paper" exams, even I understand that you are referring on it. You could rephrase it and add it back to this paragraph. This shoulld probably strengthen your stand.

Hi Chu,

Thank you for your comment. I think I done a poor part of Task Response. I will post my another new attempt soon. Cheers

Hi guys, I have done this topic too. I would like to share it to know your opinion. I know that my essay is long, but i could manage my time and complete it in 40 minutes.

For better or worse, we live in a world that is relatively surrounded by various educational systems. However, in all these academic atmospheres there are narrow range of evaluation methods, among which "pen and paper" examination is the most commonly used. Nowadays, some people come to a conclusion that this type of examination cannot be a suitable way for steering students toward success and cannot be a good criterion for identifying their abilities. For my perspective, "pen and paper" examination should be viewed as an effective ways for students evaluation. Different aspects of this kind of exam will be discussed in this essay.

A group of people believe that the traditional examination technique (paper tests) has several weak-points which make it as an inappropriate way for assessing students. First of all, this type of test is free of any kinds of creativity. In fact, students with different level of intelligence cannot show their capabilities in this condition. Secondly, dominance of high anxiety over the atmosphere of a paper exam can be another downside which students fail to represent what they really know. Finally, it is shown that "pen and paper" tests function as motivations suppressive. In other word, this kind of examination is too tiring with no cheerful atmosphere which ignore students' interests. For this, many individuals think other techniques for evaluating students such as hand in a term paper, not only familiarize pupils with an extensive information about a specific subject, but also these methods are helpful for assessing students and driving up schools standards.

For my view, however, the role of paper tests on the educational prosperity is hard to ignore. This method helps students to control their stress level and focus on what they have studied even in hard circumstances. They also learn how to manage their time and how convey their messages in the short sentences in the form of key words and information. Nevertheless, I think other methods such as researches, presentations, teamwork activities, and the like, should also be considered. Such evaluating ways teach students to ameliorate their abilities for presenting a seminar and rise their confidence level. Furthermore, researching in different facets shows how students must gather information about a topic and how prepare a research account. As a result, all these techniques beside paper tests ought to consider to students obtain the highest level of success.

To sum up, some say that the old fashion "paper tests" cannot guarantee the prosperity of students. However, there are several positive aspects in this type of exam that make it one of the most effective assessing ways.

Hi all,

I agree with you, I have prepare another similar question, but chance the content, I will soon close this one. Cheers