Prompt: Topic:  Many people believe that formal 'pen and paper' examinations are not the best method of assessing educational achievement. What is your view of examinations? 'pen and paper' examinations?

Examinations have always been one of the most familiar methods of measuring learning in educational settings throughout the world. At virtually every stage of studying process, students need to take exams to verify whether they are qualified to move on to the next level. In my view, I believed that there are some points of traditional examinations should be reconsidered. Ċ There are clearly certain advantages of exams. They guarantee the equality by enforcing the same condition on all the candidates. Moreover, they have the comparatively abundant types of exam questions, for instance, multiple choice questions or essay tasks can test different sorts of capability. However, examinations still have drawbacks. With the growth in cram school, students tend to be test-wise rather than to truly learn. Although this kind of student does not have the fundamental knowledge or skills, they still acquire the good result. In contrast, some test-takers perform poorly simply because of nervousness. Furthermore, some teachers and students only focus on those aspects of the curriculum that are liable to be tested, or those repetitive ones, thus excluding the unnecessary parts. Ċ A number of measures should be carried out to tackle the defects. Wherever possible, exams should properly reflect the educational program. Exam tasks should be comprehensively varied in term of theory in order to completely assess throughout various of knowledge and skills. Moreover, other types of evaluation should also be considered, for example, independent studying, research skills or teamwork ability. Ċ In spite of its shortcomings, exams still play an important role in assuring the appropriate, objective assessment. Nevertheless, to gain more advantages, it should be carefully designed and supplement with other types of assessment.