Are Tests the Best Way to See What Students Are Learning?

Success doesn't come to you, you go to it.

Marva Collins

Exams have been used to measure student progress for generations because they're a standard and scalable way to assess knowledge across different subjects and year groups. However, they're not always the best way to see what students are learning since they often focus on memorisation over deeper learning. For some learners, this approach might not actually be the best way to test what they know, even if exams can still serve a valuable role alongside other methods of assessment.

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Why Exams Are Still the Standard for Student Assessment

Striving for and achieving academic success is the by-product of hard work, determination, and resilience. Students dedicate hours to studying for exams and sacrifice many things so that they can please their parents and be proud of themselves. To measure success, examinations are presented to students from the primary level to the university stage; that's the way it has always been done.

Exams are a very effective tool for doing thorough knowledge checks. It illustrates how the kids' learning has progressed. Exam uniformity, then, standardises student learning in terms of interests, aptitudes, and knowledge. This ensures a uniform or standard method of evaluating multiple individuals.

There are certainly a few issues that come to mind when considering uniform tests. They don't evaluate intelligence; they test our recollection. For many, exams are not the best way to test students, as they often overlook individual strengths and create unnecessary stress. Depending on the student's abilities, the grades could be assigned.

It's worth mentioning that recently, many educators and experts in the education sector have been questioning whether standardised examinations remain the most effective way to assess students' intelligence and their comprehension of course material. Multiple intelligences theories and alternative testing methods have been introduced in more progressive schools across the United Kingdom, with considerable success.

So, the question arises: Are exams the best way to see what students are learning? Let’s explore this in today’s article.

Are Tests the Best Way to See What Students are Learning?

Exams cannot determine whether a person has learned a particular concept. The sensitive and microscopic nature of examination does not correspond to how we apply knowledge and intellect in the actual world. Exams primarily focus on testing memorisation, rather than analysis, creativity, or proper comprehension.

For many, the uniformity required by exams standardises and negatively impacts the interests, capabilities and knowledge absorbed by students and children. This process of mass standardisation takes away the uniqueness and curiosity of learning that contribute to the growth of well-rounded, critical thinkers necessary for the 21st century.

Additionally, preparing for exams often leaves students little time to absorb the information they are studying, which raises the question: Does our education system prioritise the comprehension of knowledge or test results?

Whether exams and standardised tests are practical or not greatly depends on who you ask. Why's that? There are pros and cons to traditional exams, and that's why they're still lingering around up to this day.

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What are the Pros and Cons of Traditional Exams?

According to studies, people who are relatively uninformed about a subject tend to overestimate their aptitude compared to those who are more knowledgeable.

In the United Kingdom and around the world, standardised tests have become the normalised method to determine academic excellence within our education system. However, are exams the paramount way to test students? Do end-of-year examinations require students to remember and understand the content of their studies?

The Advantages of Traditional Test Taking

To arrive at an effective conclusion, parents, teachers, and education officials must consider both the benefits and the drawbacks of standardised testing. The following are four of the most noteworthy reasons why students of all ages should continue taking traditional exams:

• They Hold Teachers and Students Accountable: One reason why exams are important is that they hold teachers and students accountable by providing measurable outcomes. Schools and education boards need reliable data to evaluate students' progress and determine whether teachers are adhering to the curriculum's structure. Once completed and handed in, standardised examinations allow exam boards to assess whether learning objectives are being met quickly. Benchmarks enable education officials to identify areas where some schools have deviated and opportunities for improvement.
• They are Extremely Efficient: instead of creating a unique exam for each student based on their learning conditions and specific talents, standardised exams try to include elementary and advanced aspects of the curriculum to collectively test students on what they know and what they reviewed in the school year. Also, for exam boards, standardised tests are evaluated by machines, which makes correcting less costly and time-consuming. Through traditional and regulated examinations, the UK Education System is given a big picture of the state of education and how students, on average, are performing.
• All Pupils Can Access the Same and Equivalent Content: This implies that a thorough assessment of all students from an equal viewpoint is possible. The use of alternative examinations or the exemption of kids from taking standardised tests leads to unfair systems, which subsequently result in a set of students who are held accountable for their performance and a different group of students who are not. It is a system in which each child is viewed equally.
• They Encourage Positive Learning Methods: Throughout the entire school year, students understand that they will have an examination at the end of the year, and they need to do well on it. This highlights why exams are good for students: they build habits like time management, discipline, and information retention.

Benefit	Description
Accountability	Provides measurable outcomes for students and teachers
Efficiency	Machine marking saves time and resources
Standardisation	Ensures all students are tested on equal ground
Encourages Study Habits	Promotes time management and revision discipline

While there are many more pros to standardised testing, such as consistency and clarity, it's worth stating that the three previously mentioned reasons are constantly brought up in defence of traditional test taking.

The Disadvantages of Uniform Tests

Over the past decade or so, the appreciation and admiration for standardised testing have declined, and many educators are rebelling against the idea of keeping uniform tests at UK-based schools. Why? There are a plethora of possible answers, but the following are the most talked about cons of standardised testing:

• They Don't Take into Account Individual Intelligence: Most educators, parents, and students would agree that standardised tests are too cookie-cutter and uniform for today's modern world. Exams do not take into account that intelligence is a spectrum, not a static entity. For example, students who do not do well under exam conditions are branded as ‘less intelligent than those who achieve higher exam results, which causes many to become dissatisfied and discouraged with the school. Exams leave no room for students with different intellects, and instead of letting them grow differently, they try to force them into conformity.
• Predictability and Bias in Standardised Testing: Savvy Students can often guess what questions will appear on a uniform test, as they are frequently based on a small number of potential questions used to achieve fairness throughout each subsequent year of teaching. This predictability is a reflection of the inherent human bias present in every action or response we make in any situation. Additionally, it implies that exam results don't always reflect students' comprehension.
• Limitations of Uniform Tests in Addressing Individual Student Needs: They assume that all pupils begin with the same level of comprehension. Uniform tests might make it possible to compare data directly, but they don't take into consideration the individual students who take the examinations. Because they presuppose that the student speaks English as a first language, standardised tests in the UK could be viewed as discriminatory in some areas. Students with special needs, learning disabilities, or other difficulties that are handled by an individualised education plan may also do worse on standardised tests than students without such issues.
• They are a Huge Source of Stress, not only for students but also for teachers. End-of-year exams are a massive source of stress that causes sleepless nights and severe bouts of anxiety.² Stress causes pupils to underperform on tests, and this reflects poorly on the educator and the exam board; so, everyone loses!

Unfortunately, it's disheartening to say that there are even more downsides than the previously mentioned four that have been proven to affect children during exams.

So, what can be done to revitalise learning and prevent students from becoming mass-produced test-takers who don't assimilate any valuable information? Take a look at the testing alternatives in the following subheading.

Are There Alternatives to Standardised Testing?

As many parents, students, and educators feel dissatisfied with the current examination methods used in primary and secondary schools across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, they are continually seeking solutions.

Some of the brightest students have fallen victim to our education system, many of them being told that they are not intelligent, which certainly wasn't the case.

Perhaps a more specialised system would make education more accessible and inclusive while producing better results.

Shifting to a mixed mode of assessment combining coursework-based assessment alongside some exams was welcomed by a majority of teachers (68%) and young people (51%) alike ⁴.

In conclusion, change is vital to a healthy society, and we desperately need it within our educational institutions right now. As we've seen in today's article, alternatives exist. Still, our government needs to be prepared to actively facilitate change and integrate new assessment methods into the UK education system before it's too late for modern-day learners.