Incorporating Continuous Assessment with Exams Examinations have been the gold standard for measuring the performance of students at the university level in the educational system. However, it may be possible that continuous assessment is more accurate for measuring overall student performance due to the fact that students are given different types of tasks to assess their knowledge, such as homework, papers, and quizzes. Exams have many pros and cons, but measuring a student’s performance solely on exams seems to be an outdated strategy. A combination of exams and continuous assessment is necessary in order to accurately assess student performance because they both have advantages and disadvantages. Although continuous assessment may be increasing …show more content…
The first and most obvious drawback is that “Standardized testing evaluates a student’s performance on one particular day and does not take into account external factors. There are many people who simply do not perform well on tests” (“Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing”). Due to the fact that students are required to honor the date of exams given to them by their professors, unexpected circumstances, such as getting sick or a family death, can occur causing subpar performance. This does not allow the student’s performance to be properly assessed because the student may have physical symptoms, such as a runny nose, headache, coughing, or sneezing, that interferes with his or her test-taking abilities. Additionally, there may be emotional strain that has the student preoccupied, thus making them less focused on the exam. Another disadvantage of exams is that they “Can create a lot of stress on both educators and students” (“Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing”). It is well-known that university-level students have many late nights studying information they believe to be on their exams days before midterms and finals, which causes them to be fatigued, stressed, and anxious. Similarly, professors may become frustrated at only being able to teach information that is going to be on the exam, which can hinder overall knowledge about topics in the …show more content…
This allows university-level students to be more involved in their classes by using more of their creativity in order to obtain knowledge. Continuous assessment “can take the form of daily work (e.g. essays, quizzes, presentation and participation in class), projects/term papers and practical work (e.g. laboratory work, fieldwork, clinical procedures, drawing practice)” (“Assessment”). Instead of measuring student performance solely through the student’s marks on one exam, the student’s performance is based on a variety of tasks throughout the period of the class. If the student is a poor exam taker, he or she will still be given a fair chance at displaying their understanding of information throughout the semester at various checkpoints. However, the biggest drawback of continuous assessment is that “Too many assignments may result in justice not being done to them all” (“Assessment”). Students can be overwhelmed by the quantity of assignments they need to complete in short periods of time. However, this disadvantage is easily resolved if professors allow for the pacing of students as they go through the learning process. Continuous assessment allows for “Fairness, accuracy and consistency in assessment” (“Continuous Assessment
“Oh, another?” You groan as you sit down, and you probably won’t get up for several more hours. Thus begins the fourth day of standardized testing. Students should not have to take standardized testing because it takes up too much class time, it puts stress on teachers and students, and students already take too many tests in each subject.
ANALYSE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ASSESSMENT METHODS IN RELATION TO MEETING THE INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OF LEARNERS. UNIT 2, 6.2 Race, P. (2009) says “we need a richer mix of high-quality assessment formats, and we also need to decrease the overall burden of assessment for ourselves and for our students. We need to measure less, but measure it better.' Using a variety of assessment methods gives students more scope to demonstrate their knowledge and skills across a range of contexts. By adopting a wider catalogue of assessments I can also help support students who may for one reason or another be underprivileged by the extensive use of particular assessment formats.
The tests aren’t very accurate, sure you know how to fill in a bubble, but you don’t learn how to think for yourself. If the answer's not a b c or d you don’t know how to answer it. Standardized test are seriously crippling our critical thinking skills. Now the tests interfere with seniors eligibility to graduate. Students wait in agony for the results of these tests to come in and it adds more stress to an
Even though students have been taking standardized test for decades, parents and educators are just now realizing that standardized testing could be harmful to students. Standardized testing has been a problem , causing controversy since the late 90’s and early 2000’s. Although standardized testing helps pinpoint weak spots and evaluate students progress, it can cause students to have mental health issues. Stress has been a top leading issue students have to face from standardized test for the past few years. Stress is a state of mental or emotional strain or tension resulting from adverse or very demanding circumstances.
To begin, standardized testing puts a lot of unhealthy stress on students and gives them even more problems to worry about. Many students find standardized testing to be extremely stressful and can lead to faulty habits. According to the author Quinn, Mulholland: "One student couldn’t handle the stress of all of these tests and broke down in the middle of one. “She had a complete meltdown,” Neely-Randall told the HPR. “And I could do nothing to help her, I couldn 't help her with the test.
Why We Should Kill Standardized Testing Standardized testing: the nightmare of every student’s school year. There are many problems with the state using standardized testing as a measure of a student’s success in the classroom. One of these reasons is that some students are just not good test-takers. People are still not realizing the problems with standardized testing, as in the US, all 50 states require students to take these tests. Standardized tests are not just a worry for students, they are also an inconvenience to teachers.
Columbia University wrote that, “There are many people who simply do not perform well on tests. Many of these students are smart and understand the content, but it doesn’t show on the test. Many students also develop test anxiety which hinders performance” (Pros and Cons of Standardized Testing 1). To only have one way of accumulating test scores is unjust for the students who do not perform well in
Imagine walking into school on test day. You’ve spent the whole school year preparing for this exam; one exam that will determine whether or not you can move forward with your life. The stakes are high, and the stress is even higher. The closer the time gets to the beginning of the test, the heavier your chest becomes. You find yourself gasping for air, as though you can’t get any oxygen into your lungs; you’re drowning.
Additionally, the tasks need to be constructive and interlinked and provide a challenge to the students while also acting as a motivation factor. The adopting of effective teaching to match the personal strengths of the students ensures that a student’s learning outcome is achieved Holistic assessment should be encouraged to understand what the learner has captured on a learning
All the pressure and anxiety students go through trying to pass those tests, it’s terrible. Standardize tests are an unreliable measure of one’s performance. Test scores can’t measure learning or tell someone how smart they are. These types of test are some of the main causes of students cheating off someone they want to believe is smarter than them. Another reason students drop out and/or give up on themselves is because they scored badly on a test.
Smarter Balanced Assessment: Pro or Con? Smarter Balanced Assessment, who is it truly assessing, the teachers or the students? Smarter Balanced testing contributes to the teacher’s performance, but is it beneficial or does it have unintended consequences? Students are ultimately grading the teachers by taking these tests and they are not even aware of it. The disadvantages may outweigh the benefits for this topic, but teachers must look past the disadvantages and do what they were meant to do, teach.
In the essay “More Testing, More Learning”, Patrick O’Malley, the author, states that he thinks college professors should test students more often to enhance their learning. Patrick declared that semester finals or midterm exams are causing much unneeded stress on the students. O’Malley thinks that if professors gave more tests, quizzes, and homework during the semester, maybe the students wouldn’t be so stressed out about one final test. Also in his article, he explains why having more of these tests and quizzes would give the scholars better studying habits. More tests and quizzes, equals more studying.
Standardized testing can cause a lot of stress on both educators and students. Very good teachers quit teaching every day because of how much stress is on them to prepare students to perform on standardized tests. They feel a considerable amount of pressure to improve testing scores. According to NEAToday say that "Despite the elevated level of overall satisfaction, nearly half (45 percent) of surveyed member teachers have considered quitting because of standardized testing". Students especially feel the stress when there is something meaningful tied to them meaning that some parents threaten to take away something that they value
Which puts a lot of stress on everyone. If you make a bad grade on these tests, you are brought to embarrassment and it can change your academic plan if you fail one of these tests. It puts stress on teachers to teach all the correct curriculum and to follow all the strict rules that they give them,
I incorporate this learned experience daily and learn through each success and discovered area of improvement. Addressing my students needs using a variety of assessment tools has been a beneficial practice to help guide instruction. Students have different learning styles and their strengths and weaknesses are not always apparent using the same methods of assessment. Utilizing formative, standards(goal)-based, anecdotal, observational and benchmarks has driven my instructional programs. The combination of different assessments provides me with a multi-dynamic perspective of my students allowing me to better understand their strengths, weakness and academic needs.