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Are exams a waste of time?

What do YOU think?

:) Hi there,
You're not right, exams are so good for us, not waste of time. You know, if there no have exam that means you never know what skill you are in. Do you agree with me? Sometime it's useless because there no fare in exam course,right ? But not always. Let's think about what I said. Have a nice day, bye.
Tram

We really need exams to check what we get after studying. Sometimes the exam results are motive for us to study harder...I mean we'll have to compete with our classmate ohh it's ashamed to get bad marks while the others get good ones. But sometimes exams put press on us.It's terrible

:( Are exams the only way to check our skills or motive for study?Can educators invent a better method to achieve that?

Anonymous wrote::( Are exams the only way to check our skills or motive for study?Can educators invent a better method to achieve that?

We all hope so..u know...But there is an important fact:The indulgence of human naature.We can't deny that.There r too few spontaneous learner,as i know.There is not a student liking it,but irony there is few ones who will learn things by themself without the pushing of exam.I used to hate that to hell,when i am a little boy.But now i am a freshman,i have a different perspective on this(positively i think).I can't
imagine that if there were no exams.U must think i am crazy or a kind of
sicko,but who dare to stand up and say:oh! If there were no exams,i am much better now.When we were kids,few of us can sit on a chair with our 2 eyes wide open happily reading a book.But when we grow up,little by little do we realize the importance of learning.So i don't think exams itself is a bad thing,of course it's by no means a sweet chocolate.Now recall each period of ur learning course and take out those exams,how it will turn out to be now?

Well, as an educator I say no, perhaps students see this in a different spectrum.

In my teaching performance I´ve tried to show my students ,in practice , that exams can be fun.
All of these thru at a small pace, giving them the tools to put their own ideas in practice.

I challenge them into new situations, for example the world, techonology and personal topics.
One of the things that they are very clear by know is that one thing is to speak a second language and another it is to sound intelligent in a second one, in this case English.

I do believe, that exams are part of the overall performance that we persue, and as an instructor, I have the interesting and no less challenging responsibility to show them that exams are in a way one of the tools that I have to measure their own ideas.

PD: Our higher mark in Chile is a 7.0. Anyone who has been taught by me has this mark at the beginning of a test. Thru the process of correction some mistakes appear and at the end you keep the highest mark or not.
But the most important thing for my students is to express their ideas in a clear and simple way.

HugoR
Chile

Well, certainly not! They are not a waste of time, in fact, we profit from the time we spent to study. Exams promotes self-esteem, too. Like if you got 2nd position in class and you feel like beating the top, you can study study study til you beat the top. It gives you self confidence, too. :)

iI believe that whether exams are a waste of time of not depends on how you use them. If you use them to measure a students ability and to find their weak spots in order to help them improve, then they are useful. If you use them as the only way of measuring their competency, then I don't think they are the best way to measure competency. Most students preform badly in exams due to stress. :( ][/i]

exams can improve our english when we really dont know if we are ok or not. as a matter of fact some times we dont understand our mistakes. this is when exam can help us to know.

hugoromo wrote:Well, as an educator I say no, perhaps students see this in a different spectrum.

In my teaching performance I´ve tried to show my students ,in practice , that exams can be fun.
All of these thru at a small pace, giving them the tools to put their own ideas in practice.

I challenge them into new situations, for example the world, techonology and personal topics.
One of the things that they are very clear by know is that one thing is to speak a second language and another it is to sound intelligent in a second one, in this case English.

I do believe, that exams are part of the overall performance that we persue, and as an instructor, I have the interesting and no less challenging responsibility to show them that exams are in a way one of the tools that I have to measure their own ideas.

PD: Our higher mark in Chile is a 7.0. Anyone who has been taught by me has this mark at the beginning of a test. Thru the process of correction some mistakes appear and at the end you keep the highest mark or not.
But the most important thing for my students is to express their ideas in a clear and simple way.

HugoR
Chile

:D Bravo, I couldn't agree more.

In fact, exams is the best ways to review my knowledge. Just imagine, if we have no exams, we'll not how much we 've gained stuff and even we have no motivation to go ahead ( it sometimes makes us nervous and even causes under stress)

And one more important things that we have many chances to show our ideas in clear and have s.o else to correct our mistakes. :D

HI!
At first i have to state that exams are so impotaint in studying.
But in my opinion i dont really concentrade on that. The harder i learn the better i feel because i study English by myself :D
Therefore, how to measure our skills without the exam ? I mean those are the official exams. They are the ruler of knowlegdes. They show us that what we 've done, how much we 've been aware of and more Do u like passing the exam with a good mark ? And do u want to know what u have learned?
exam is the only way to know overally although it is not essy at all
good luck !!!

8) how to say ! exams are very important .in a word,exams are connected with the study .to me .exam is nessesary sometime ,it is an method to test one's ability after all .but we can't judge people only by it .

I think that exams are agreat deal.
First of all, exams make us to revise and repeat our knowledge. That is the main key of education.
Secondly, we can develop our ability to industriousness and punctuality and make us more disciplined.These are very useful quality for our prospective job and life in general.
At last, taking exams, we can get assessment for our knowledge and then make appropriate conclusion.
Those, who want to achieve a genuine success in life must attach a big attention to pass their exams very well.
Good luck for everybody.

[quote][/quote]

It's a HUGE waste of time. School is a waste of time. No practics, just theory. It's mad. School is a hell for me.

Exams are not a waste time at all! Whether you are educators or students, you need them to testify if you have got yourself understood to others, or even to lyourself. Without exams, what else can find to be a substituion for this?

maria wrote:
However, I really don't like the exam format in Hong Kong. I always believe that exam is a tool to test your true level of knowledge.But in Hong Kong, the exams should be finished in a limited time. Well, I really can't write a good essay with 4 pages in 50 minutes.That's a exam require us to do. When I need to write a essay in exam, I run out of idea. Therefore, I get a dissatisfactory result in exam even though I do it quite well in the normal class period.Thus, I think exam in Hong Kong can't really reflect the true strength of the students.Why must exam have a short time limit? Are the exam authority going to produce a whole batch of robots, everyone do the works quickly and accurately?

That's not only in Hong Kong; it's like that everywhere. If they don't set an amount of time, why is it called an examination then?

Exams cannot be demolished because it is a useful tool to measure the result of students and teachers.From that, we can adjust the education program and teaching &learning method more suitably.

_Arale_

hi all
i think that exams it is a waste of time because it is as a revision for what u study and at the final exam u will find ur self just only refresh ur mind .

paradise wrote:hi all
i think that exams it is a waste of time because it is as a revision for what u study and at the final exam u will find ur self just only refresh ur mind .

It doesn't make sense.

To me

Exams are like GIRL FRIENDS,
1. Too many questions.
2. Difficult to understand.
3. More explanation is needed.
4. Result is always failed.

So it is waste of time for me.
_____________________________________________________

visit me at http://www.meetwaqar.tk
drop me a line at [email protected]

Waqar wrote:To me

Exams are like GIRL FRIENDS,
1. Too many questions.
2. Difficult to understand.
3. More explanation is needed.
4. Result is always failed.

So it is waste of time for me.
_____________________________________________________

visit me at http://www.meetwaqar.tk
drop me a line at [email protected]

that's funny!

If there is no exam, how could we know who have learned better than others? Tests are not so scientific to the reflections on the reaults of study, but what other ways can we find to substitue for it?

costadina wrote:iI believe that whether exams are a waste of time of not depends on how you use them. If you use them to measure a students ability and to find their weak spots in order to help them improve, then they are useful. If you use them as the only way of measuring their competency, then I don't think they are the best way to measure competency. Most students preform badly in exams due to stress. :( ][/i]

Exams is one of the ways to test a learner. We must integrate a student's test result with his/her other performance. It's better to put about 70% in the test and 30% in other performances, say, for English as a Second Languge, the learners have to use English to communicate with their partners besides their paper test.

Hi guys.. :D

well from my own point of view.. i think that exam is just a waste ..indeed ..

ok

exam determins whether or not iam learning ..But it really cause fear to me

i hate taking exam :(

so as Waqar said it is waste of time

i like exam though the process is very difficult.

by this way i can train myself and live better than before!

well, i don't think exam is a waste of time.
for me, exam is a good method to let me know if i really understand the topic. you know, during lessons, we are used to listening to teachers' lectures and very often, we don't know if we understand the topic. exams can help us to know if we really understand the topic because there is no teacher sitting besides us during the exam and no one will guide us in answering the question. so, if we understand the topic, we will be able to answer all the questions and get a good grade, and vice versa.

Although most of us hate exam,i don't think it is a waste of time.On the contrary,if there is no more exam to test how much we have learnt so far,it will be a waste of time. It is because most of us have laziness, if there is no exam,will we have the self-motivation to study? I doubt. I think exam is just like an engine,one which pushes us to study hard and leading us to the bright future. Therefore, i can say with certainty that exam is needed, it is not a waste of time.

Hey i have been shocked,,,,,,
how can exams be a waste of time!!
The exams show how well you study for a particular period of time. There could be plenty of ways that can prove your level.
But, i do not think there is none as good as exams.

The homework or assignment cannot be the way of criticizing students' level because other people outside of school can help students secretly.

But how about the exams? everyone is doing exams on the same day, same time. Most of all, students have to study for the exams, unless they want to fail.

thank you for reading~~!

exam is a waste of time in Hong Kong
orianted educational system is the cause of such problem
students have their nose in the book and they have no idea on the things around them. Their own job is to memorize all the things and write that things in the exam paper
It's meaningless!
they don't know how useful of the knowledge and how can they use it in their daily life.

Hi!

Exams, exams, exams... They're useful to measure, in certain extent, your competence in any area. Depending on how they're designed, they can let you test your ability or, on the contrary, make you go nuts. :P

That's why I agree with you, Dale: the educational system of our countries could change radically our concept about exams, studies and homework.

It also depends on how you take it: as a challenge, or a trouble. There are different aspects that change our mind about exams :D , including the teacher, the subject, the topic and the number of questions (which usually is large)!


Another interesting question would be
Are exams a friendly actiity to waste time?

I'm sure the answers would be partial, as well.

Exams, as any part of studying whether it be another language or another topic, are an essential part of finding out how much you really know and have learned from the course. If you don't like them, it may be because you haven't made the most of your opportunity to learn that subject. What's the point of trying to learn something if you aren't going to do a check once in a while to see if you really understand what you've been trying to learn?

Would you bake a cake and then not bother to find out if you made a cake that tastes delicious by never eating it?

:D Hi Deanna
We found you!!!!

We think the exam is a small matter in our whole life
Sometiomes we need to take exams, so we have to check our ability oursleves.

We think University enterance exam is a waste of time because we only have to memorise a lot of things that don't need in our future. After exam, we forgot everything.

We have to find another methods to enter University, especially in Asia countries. We think the important thing is what we want to study in University. :P

konomi&peter wrote:
We think University enterance exam is a waste of time because we only have to memorise a lot of things that don't need in our future. After exam, we forgot everything.

We have to find another methods to enter University, especially in Asia countries. We think the important thing is what we want to study in University. :P

I agree with you there. Taking a test to get into university doesn't make sense. If you are only memorising information that is otherwise unnecessary, why are you taking the test? A better way, I think, is to look at all of your grades when you are in high school. When you are already in university, though, I think exams for each class are very useful.

cassie wrote:Exams, as any part of studying whether it be another language or another topic, are an essential part of finding out how much you really know and have learned from the course. If you don't like them, it may be because you haven't made the most of your opportunity to learn that subject. What's the point of trying to learn something if you aren't going to do a check once in a while to see if you really understand what you've been trying to learn?

Would you bake a cake and then not bother to find out if you made a cake that tastes delicious by never eating it?

We agree with you because taking exams are necessary to know how much we really know and have learned from our classes.
However,exams make us very nervous and stressful.Sometimes,we have to do many things all day and stay up all night....
Some of students care about exams too much!!
For example in Korea when students fail the exam for entering University, sometimes they suicide. It's so terrible!!
Exams are important but we think the progress is the most important thing.Teachers should not care only about exams.

konomi&peter wrote::D Hi Deanna
We found you!!!!

We think the exam is a small matter in our whole life
Sometiomes we need to take exams, so we have to check our ability oursleves.

We think University enterance exam is a waste of time because we only have to memorise a lot of things that don't need in our future. After exam, we forgot everything.

We have to find another methods to enter University, especially in Asia countries. We think the important thing is what we want to study in University. :P

I agree that most students forget evrything after taking exams!!
It's true.We study hard just for exams.
After that,it's easy to forget because we concentrate to mark good scores.

rocely wrote::D Hi, everyone!
I think exams are important to know your level
You know, all of the students hate exams,
but if there were not exams, how can we measure our ablities
Yes, I know test time is hard to stand because we are sometime nervous and have to saturate new information.

There is an easy way to take exams
If you prepare a little part everyday, you can be ready for your final test

You're right!!!!
If We study constantly, we can take gooood! score what we want, but the problem is that we don't like study everyday

in my opinion, it's not exactly a wast of time. but many times it's not fair with the students. it's necessary to create new ways to know how much the student have learned where the teacher participate more of the learning process having a better knowledge about the student level.

whats an exam? its different in different condition. i would like to specify what i think from my experience.
when i was in the university, its really a burden for me to take an exam, there are too many exams and it means too much for a student, especially seems some exams made no sense for someone, but we have to join it and get a high score, in this case, i think its kind of waisting time. but for other case, exam will help us to know more knowledge, such as some majority cause, its important, exam helped one to review what s/he studied and what s/he gained from it.
when i am in work like now, exams is not really the same meaning as the exam we took before, we always learned a lot from book and experienced it in our work, so its some kind of exams already and its more practical... we can gain more money from it, its more interresting and have more fun.
as what i said, i think its wonderful studying in work and serving for work. its a great exam not wasting time in the society-more risky, more fun.

People often say that testing people by way of examination is not the best way to access the candidate's capability.The best candidate is often not the most intelligent candidate.
But what is the next best alternative? In the absence of any, we have to resort to conducting exams.

dear friend i partialy disagree with you because if there were no exams we could't be able to see how much good we are in a certain subject , therefore , how much effort do we need to improve our selves, yet sometimes they are waste of time if some teachers but not all of them are fair in their correcting

I don't agree with you totally. Because if you don't have any exam, how you can check knowledge and you don't have anything to base on to estimate personal abilities??
And for student , exam's coming means it'll encourage students study hard to get a good mark, so that's a good chance for everybody have to review everything they learn, human instinct 's lazy.
However, in the other hands, government should reduce some exams are uneccessary, and don't make students become stress by pressure.
Thanks.

Exams are very important to check the level of the students and provide information to teachers if their method is accurated.

Etore wrote:Exams are very important to check the level of the students and provide information to teachers if their method is accurated.

Are you talking about tests, control, or exams.
Tests are inevitable - one needs a stimulus to move on.
Control can be indirect and, actually, a good teacher controls students indirectly so they didn't even suspect they are being controlled.
Exams are for those who decides whether you are appropriate or not - it's the easiest way to wash brains and in this way exams are harmful. Taking into account that they don't prove anything. If a student wants to further his education , say, in America (s)he will have not only to get a TOEFL or Cambridge certificate, (s)he'll have to show an appropriate language command no exams but an interview can show.
Exams only show who will feed on who, who is better and who is worse - it's a system of segregation imposed by societies of "equal possibilities". We are different and you can't equalize what is different by nature.

Exams are EVIL.

Smiles,
GiddyGad

GiddyGad wrote: Exams only show who will feed on who, who is better and who is worse - it's a system of segregation imposed by societies of "equal possibilities". We are different and you can't equalize what is different by nature.

Exams are EVIL.

Smiles,
GiddyGad

No way! Without examinations people go to classes just for getting new information, which they will probably forget it the next day or soon. However, if there are examinations, people have to review their lectures over and over and try to understand them real well, so they will ace their tests. Although tests do show who is better than whom, but this is life-- each individual has his or her own ability to ace the tests. Only idiots or 99% of the case of people who don't review or study for their lectures will get F's.
And what's up with equal possibilities? Are we supposed to?

I don't agree with that.

TP wrote:Are Exams a Waste of Time?

Sometimes.
The only function of exams is to check how well you learned. But you cannot put the theory into practices by taking exams. That's a waste of time.
Aother point is that exams spur you to pay more attention to your studies. To some extent, that's a good thing.
Always remember the saying that "every coin has two sides".

For some students exams work like goal setting. They need to have the exams to establish that the work they are doing is on target; or requires more attention.

There are definate benefits from exams for students and teachers. It gives teachers the opportunity to see where students may need more assistance etc....