Are exams a waste of time?

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fortminor
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Post by fortminor »

They are not wast of time, but all of them are so boring . i am always the first one who finishes ! lol... :lol:
consequently, everybody thinks i had studied so hard that i answered questions easily!they dont know i become bored when exam! :roll:
tikay
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Post by tikay »

I just finished school with a large percentage of people who wouldn't even bother to show up to class half the time. they all relied upon the notes of other students and the pre test notes by coming on the right day to class. i dont know how they are going o do in life but I think it is easy to study enough to let some info sink in to your head, then one must rest well and eat well before tests. But then i never had a hard time in school. So who am i to give advise, it is a really hard time for some people. SO they should give tips...how they get by might be more helpful to people. :oops:
well I try to help.
echip
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Post by echip »

Students have to study too much nowadays and many exams make them worried! Some of them hate exams (like me), others don't! But, if all exams are waste of time, we won't know what to do after studying! That's the problem!
Ah, i'm terribly sorry if I make all of you annoyed 'coz there are some mistakes in your replies (in grammar or vocabulary), hope you can fix them!
Thanks!
star*dust
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Post by star*dust »

i agree with Arale in that exams are good tools to measure where ur in the subject that ur studying..its also a good way of forcing students to review wat they studied and thus make it stick in their minds...at least at school!!
on the other hand, wen u leave school and enter the new life of universities, u start to wonder about the usefulness of exams and if there were a better way of grading the students....u c, students now r old enough to know wat they should study and wat may benefit them in life...so should we really force student to study because of an exam??? besides, exams are highly subjective in that its the teacher who chooses the questions and so something maybe important to him but the student really thinks its not which creates a problem. moreover, some of the students are really brilliant in a subject but they cant handle exam stress well.....does that mean that he is not a good student? and y should students be graded basing on the exams they take at the end of the year rather than their participation or understanding throughout the whole course?//
Thoughts
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Post by Thoughts »

Of course, no.Exames can be defined as an instrument of evaluation student's level.They are so important for students in all different stages of studying.The teacher can motivate his (her)students by (daily, weekly,monthly)exame, to improve them & get good marks.Sometimes, daily preparation for any matrial may not be taken in student's care ,hence, exames will play good role to achive one of two aims.The student will do his best effort either to consider the exam a chance to get what he has lost so far, or only to pass the exam itself.Consequently, exames give us a useful benefit.Another importance of exames is obtaining right estimation of student's level.Obviously, students can be classified into different groups according to their scientific positions(their comperehension capacity,their ability to understand...etc..)Finally, achieving motivation & estimation of students will lead to the essentiaal benefit of exames,it is the reinforcing of learning process.
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by shadds »

TP wrote:Are exams a waste of time?
NO not at all. Exams are equally important as learning. whatever people learn cannot be evaluated if there are no exams.
dovilorous
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Post by dovilorous »

hi, im a new member here. I had come across this forum page and i thought it was quite interesting.
well, i am from SG where the education system, i would say, is quite demanding. we have busy schedules, but however i must note that other countries may have an even more hectic education schedule. in Singapore, from secondary education onwards, it is extremely independent. Should a student fail to take his/her studies into his/her hands, it would result in bad results during exams. this would result in them hating exams, for these results would have to be shown to their parents. yes, such a scenario is common everywhere. this would be the main problem psychologically. so the saying goes, "once bitten twice shy". everything has its good and bad points to it. but, even if students fail, soem may realise their mistake and pick themselves up from then on and excell in their studies. those who give up on themselves would then have great problems during their academic years ahead. in general, i must say that exams are useful, to gage each student's level of performance and whether they need help in certain areas of their academic studies.
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crystalfrogw
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exam is absolutely not a waste of time!

Post by crystalfrogw »

Exam is a good method to test whether you have grasped the knowledge you have studied and will tell you on which direction you should pay more attention to.
Two resons may contribute to the condition-some of the students think exams terrible or boring.
1. a certain individual test itself is not good but not all exams are bad. for example some exams focus so much on theories or the knowlege which you need to recite instead of testing whether a students can use it into practice.
2. Indeed we must admit some students are afraid of exams because they don't make every effort to grasp what they should know. Learning is always not an easy thing to most of us(not include IQ>120, lol).so during the procedure of studying we may feel boring or exausted. At last in order to find an excause for themselves, they accuse of exams.

:P
jrkp
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Are they?

Post by jrkp »

In my opinion, the problem with exams is that they are very subjective. When the teacher is checking it, he/she doesn`t consider your feeling or your health at the moment you took it. It is very difficult to take an exam when you have problems at home or you are sick. Have you ever taken an exam having a running nose or a headache, for example? or when a relative is ill?. I know that If you are facing that kind of situations, you can talk to the teacher and explain it to him/her, but some of them simply don´t care and force you to take it, even though you are not in your prime.

Also, the marks you can get depend on the point of view of the teacher, because sometimes you have to answer what he/she WANTS and not what you have learnt. To make my point clear, I have known cases where you learnt a different way to resolve a problem (a mathematic problem, to be specific)and, despite you have the same result of the teacher, he/she put that answer wrong, only because you don´t use the method he/she has taught you. Besides, Sometimes, teachers are not bias when they are checking the exams. You can find this situations when they are a student´s friend or, in some way, they are related. Do you think a teacher will put a bad mark to his/her own son? or what about his/her niece or godchildren? Or his neighbor?

On the other hand, exams are the only test method I know where teachers have completely control over the students. If teachers give them assignments (homeworks or papers, for example), the odds they will cheat are very high, considering that students have a lot of tools to do that nowadays. (internet for example.

To answer the question, Exams are not a waste of time if teachers apply them fairly.....
krishan
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Exams not waste of time

Post by krishan »

I Do't think that the exams are waste of time. We read hole the year. Our parents does not know that how we have Read. Exams shows the students capability of remember. At the end of exams we get result,it shows that our remember power. Exams are the way to proof a student how is he enteligent.[/code][/list]
Kathfap
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Kathfsap say,

Post by Kathfap »

I think that the evaluation of some courses is not good :!: In the classroom there are students with more capacity than others. The evaluation is the same for both. I accept that there are students don’t study, but too there are students who are difficult learning. However, I agree that exams are very important for evaluate yours strengths and weaknesses. It is a great help for teachers because identify mistakes and possible solutions. :idea:
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Bambang
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Re: Are they?

Post by Bambang »

jrkp wrote: ...To answer the question, Exams are not a waste of time if teachers apply them fairly.....
This time I agree with you my friend. And as an addition, if there is something wrong about the implementation of the exams, then don't blame the exams themselves. In fact, the system or the way of the exams conducted should be improved to get a better one.
nightwish
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Post by nightwish »

Are exams a waste of time?


No, I don't think that exams are waste of time,
In contrast, it's so beneficial. Reading and studying the material that we had learnt make us memorize and understand the material very well.
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Krisi
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Post by Krisi »

Definitely not!
Exams are for teachers, students and the parents of course.
An exam is one way of testing students' achievements.
Exams are for the students to assess themselves if they have done well or not.
An exam is a teachers' tool to know the level, and performance of each student. Also for the teachers to know if their (teachers') approach is effective to each of the student.
An exam is a device to inculcate to the students' mind what they have learned.
Exams are used for the parents to know if their children are attending their classes or not. And also an alarm for the parents if their children are learning or not.
I am focusing in schools only, how much more in other fields.
Exams are beneficial to all. How could it be a waste of time?
skorpion
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by skorpion »

TalkingPoint wrote:Are exams a waste of time?

What do YOU think?
I think that really depends on the way exams are made. I believe that the traditional way of evaluating students is counter-productive.

I remember seing a documentary where this school evaluates students just with the purpose of knowing in what areas they are improving and what areas they need help. Once this is done, they make 'em work in teams to help each other, thus helping the teachers with their teaching.

The good thing is that the evaluation is not recorded. The student does not have to worry about any qualifications nor any possibility or having to go over the same school year next year.

So to summarize, well... yeah, I think they're a waste of time. At least in their approach.
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Alfabeto
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Post by Alfabeto »

In my view, exams are not a waste of time. I'm a teacher, and unless I had really small classes (like five or six students at a time) I would have no way to judge their progress if we didn't do exams. Exams can be written to be as objective as humanly possible, you just need to know what your goal is.
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by Anuska »

Yes they are q waste of time, because you are not going to work in all tjis subjects, I think that you just have to coose three subjects but do not do the exams, because when you are going to work you wont need to do exams
:mrgreen:
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Annaa
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by Annaa »

Uhuahuahuehuahuhuhuhuuuahue in my country to take a grade are to ways one is with exams, other is the teacher ask you live in presence of all other students.Exams are a bad way cuz all my class`s friends steal in exams.But when teacher`s ask us in presence of all students u can`t steal from books or notebooks,u can speak only that that u know.
If you don`t like me remember it's mind over matter..I don't mind and you don't matter..
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AzizA
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by AzizA »

TalkingPoint wrote:Are exams a waste of time?

Are exams a waste of time?
Sometimes Ifeel so,simply because we rely on learning by heart in most of times!!
2 years later, I'll became a teacher of English;I'll get quite joy whenever I'll use my English^^
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Koala
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by Koala »

I don't think so. An exam help us check how much we've learned, how much knowledge we've got and how much we haven't. In other hand, if hadn't exams, would we spend time to review our lessons? especially lessons in subjects we don't like. In fact, all subjects are useful this way or that way but we only focus on what we like.
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denvinbo
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by denvinbo »

Koala wrote:I don't think so. An exam help us check how much we've learned, how much knowledge we've got and how much we haven't. In other hand, if hadn't exams, would we spend time to review our lessons? especially lessons in subjects we don't like. In fact, all subjects are useful this way or that way but we only focus on what we like.
It's my opinion, too.....And 1 advice, you can focus on your favorite, but never forget the other subjects, you have to average them.... :-)
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Krisi
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Re:

Post by Krisi »

Krisi wrote:Definitely not!
Exams are for teachers, students and the parents of course.
An exam is one way of testing students' achievements.
Exams are for the students to assess themselves if they have done well or not.
An exam is a teachers' tool to know the level, and performance of each student. Also for the teachers to know if their (teachers') approach is effective to each of the student.
An exam is a device to inculcate to the students' mind what they have learned.
Exams are used for the parents to know if their children are attending their classes or not. And also an alarm for the parents if their children are learning or not.
I am focusing in schools only, how much more in other fields.
Exams are beneficial to all. How could it be a waste of time?
It is not a waste of time.
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abnamso
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by abnamso »

ell, people who think exams are not necessary are not any smarter or more stupid than people who think exams are necessary when they're given to take one.
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by subbrine »

I don't think I should reply this at my exam week (is that even a term in english?)
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by alrabiay »

I think the problem is not with exams. In fact, the problem is with the professors or teachers who prepare the exams. There are some of those professors or teachers who make difficult questions that do not reflect what he or she presented in class. Some of those instructors, their main objective from an exam is to challenge students and prove that he is a good or smart one in preparing exam questions. The main objective of exams should be to motivate students to read and should be according to the effort that the instructor put in teaching and explaining. However, what I have seen during my study at the university is that good instructors give reasonable questions when testing their students and those who are not good try their best to prepare hard questions.
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fleance
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by fleance »

Exams are definitely not a waste of time. It is test whether you understand well all the lessons what your professor taught.
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lesmedia
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by lesmedia »

A massive number of exams in a short period of time doesn't allow the student to study any particular subject appropriately or in enough depth. I think continuous assessment is better than having final exams.
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Bloodred
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by Bloodred »

Hi everyone!

I think exams of all kinds are rather useful than a waste of time.
First of all, it's a good way of controlling academic progress of the students, what they achieved, what they can and what they cannot. Anyway, in this respect it makes much more sense when an exam is not just a bunch of tests, but something like a project which does not only represents a student's knowledge, but also his individual attitude. (But standard exams are fine as well if correctly applied :) ).

Besides, exams help teachers and professors recognize weaknesses of their courses and hence improve them.

Finally, exams keep students motivated, because the most of people, especially young ones, prefer doing nothing when having no obligations xD
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nishida
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by nishida »

In my opinion, I disagree that taking exams is a waste of time because taking exams helps us understand more about a specific subject and also make us realize wich part of the study we have to pay more attention.
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by nishida »

I cannot agree with that, because exams is needed to evaluate one's skill or ability.
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by Sposing »

You can't call it a waste of time since it is way for you to finish your study. You can say it a waste of time if you didn't finish your degree.
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by XUZIHAO »

I think exams are good for us.In China,exams are really common.It is useful to check the results of students.
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Re:

Post by XUZIHAO »

Guest wrote::( Are exams the only way to check our skills or motive for study?Can educators invent a better method to achieve that?
I am afraid that it may be the only way to check our skills...... ;-)
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by Blooms »

Some test scores, for example - the TOEIC, are recognised by companies, agencies and universities across the globe - so can be really valuable. You can do exam preperation courses to improve your english and exam skills at the same time {-:

Code: Select all

http://www.bloomsbury-international.com/en/
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Sammy
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Re: Are exams a waste of time?

Post by Sammy »

I consider it a waste of time. Every student knows his abilities and knowledge. This is what the teacher needs to check what he has taught.
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