Ask any student about the final examination process and you’ll receive no shortage of complaints and flaws being pointed out, but that doesn’t mean we should give up on having exams entirely.
Getting through university—the social aspects, the responsibilities, and independent living—is a stressful endeavour on its own. With deadlines and final assessments piling on additional pressure, the average student is left to balance a handful of struggles with unexpected life circumstances.
When life inevitably gets in the way, paper and project-based assignments tend to be more adaptable, leaving room for flexibility and extensions. In this sense, they present a more appealing option to students who aren’t granted the same level of forgiveness from intentionally rigid exams.
But comparing exams to assignments is like comparing apples to oranges. The reality is they serve different purposes and target distinct learning objectives—both of which are essential to a well-rounded academic experience.
Exams and assignments are tailored to different subject matter in ways that make ruling out exams completely an incomplete solution. While humanities courses often benefit from essays and presentations, STEM subjects such as math and science rely on exams because they emphasize formulas and objective problem-solving. Asking students to present a PowerPoint on calculus makes as little sense as assessing medieval English understanding through multiple-choice questions.
Assignments serve various functions, from encouraging application and collaboration to fostering critical thinking, reflection, and creativity. In contrast, it seems like students’ primary takeaway from exams is memorizing and reciting incomprehensible amounts of information.
Thus, it’s easy for students to overlook the importance or even the meaningfulness of exams, when months’ worth of course material is crammed and subsequently forgotten within a day.
Yet, despite the stress accompanied by exams—studying for them, writing them, and worrying about them—they’re a privilege of higher education that holds significant value in our learning. Well-designed exams enable students to master an area of understanding and demonstrate what they’ve learned.
While working on projects can provide what seems to be a more commonly used among students, the personal process of writing papers or crafting presentations becomes nothing but a series of commands for ChatGPT.
Arguably, students get more out of cramming course content than endlessly rewording ideas spouted by an AI engine. Thus, what you learn or gain from assessments isn’t purely up to their structure, but the mindset you approach them with and the dedication you’re willing to offer.
With growing concerns of cheating and academic integrity, exams are one of the only ways to ensure fairness across the student body. So, rather than eliminating exams, we should work towards improving them.
Deg fair assessments is about balancing professors’ needs as well as students’. It means reducing more barriers to deferring exams, writing with accommodations, and showing students that assessments are for their benefit, not against them.
If universities implemented more flexibility and consideration into their exams, students might just be inclined to side with them.
—Journal Editorial Board
Tags
All final editorial decisions are made by the Editor(s) in Chief and/or the Managing Editor. Authors should not be ed, targeted, or harassed under any circumstances. If you have any grievances with this article, please direct your comments to [email protected].