It is often said that exams stimulate students to study, while others claims the opposite. In my opinion, exams sometimes keep students from learning more. First, low performing students are more likely to lose their confidence. Second, even exams have a negative impact on high performers because they want to keep high grades.
To begin with, exams sometimes give rise to losing students' confidence. Of course, in general, tests stimulate higher competition and enhance overall academic performance among students. However, the problem is that it can negatively affect low performers so much that they might feel frustrated and distracted, and thus even lose their self-confidence and stop showing up. Let's take my case as an example. In the beginning of the first semester in college, I was eager to learn and study. However, I was given so enormous stress after I got C- in the two first physics exams. Finally, I lost my interest in the subjects and I got academic probation at that semester. As my experience illustrates, exams can act as a obstacle that keeps students from learning hardly.
In addition, even students with high grades can be influenced by exams. As competition to get a good job becomes fiercer than ever before, high grades is highly considered requisite among many job seekers. In this context, students avoid taking exams that are necessary but challenging in order to maintain their grades. For another instance, after I got A+ in Accounting Principles, I felt really satisfied with it. One significant reason is that there was no exam in the subject, and thus I can easily get high grade. However, I hesitated to attend Intermediate Course because there was many exams that I am reluctant to, and thus I took another introductory class not to have to take exams. In this sense, an exam is not a desirable method to make students learn.
In brief, I firmly believe that exams do not make students learn. Exams lead to losing confidence and deter students from becoming knowledgeable since exams often make students grades degrade. For those reasons, the traditional exam system should be highly revised in order for students to feel motivated to study more. |