Examinations

Examinations

Essay Writting, Examinations

     The human need to judge the knowledge and learning of many persons at the same time and grade them accordingly gave birth to the system of examination. They became all the more necessary with the progress in education and the advancement in culture and technology. Perhaps they are the only means to judge the knowledge and learning of many persons simultaneously.

     As regards the students the examinations make them work hard. They have to go through all the courses of studies as they do not know which questions are to be set in the examination. Thus, examinations promote healthy competition among the students.

     Examinations prove helpful in selecting competent persons for important posts, the right man for the right job. The Selection is fair and impartial as the examiner marks each paper according to its worth, would have been almost impossible. 

     But examinations are not without defects. They make the students resort to cramming. They learn by many questions as they can, and depend upon them for their success. It is so because thorough understanding of anything requires deep thinking and very few people are inclined to that. They accept ready made ideas and prefer cramming to using their brains.

     In an examination much depends on luck. The question paper may contain the same questions which an examinee has memorized or it may have none of such questions. Thus the success or failure of the person may not be the true measure of his knowledge.

     Examinations ignore the moral side of a person which is an essential part of his personality. Education does not mean knowledge of books alone. It concerns the whole man his mental enlightenment and moral excellence. The examinations can test the knowledge but not the morals.

     However, the demerits of examinations do not lessen their importance. No deubt, some of the universities in Japan and America have abolished them. But they have not found and effective and practicable alternative. It is not likely that such an alternative will ever be found.

     In conclusion, we may say that the system of examinations has to continue. However there is much room for improvement in the present system. The questions set in the examination should test the power of comprehension and the intelligence of a student and not the amount of knowledge he has temporarily stored in his brain.