My Views on Examinations 我对考试的看法

In most colleges and universities the examination is used as a chief means of deciding whether a student succeeds or fails in mastering a particular subject. Although it does the job quite efficiently, its side effects are also enormous.

To begin with, examinations lower the standards of teaching. Since teachers are often judged by examination results, they are reduced to training their students in exam techniques. No subjects can be taught successfully merely through being approached with intent to take examinations. In addition, the most undesirable effect is that examinations encourage bad study habits. As the examination score is the only criterion for his academic performance, a student is driven to memorize mechanically rather than to think creatively.

In fact, few of us admit that examinations can contribute anything really important to the students’ academic development. If that is the case, why cannot we make a change and devise something more efficient and reliable than examinations?