Prompt: Formal examinations are the only effective way to assess a student’s performance. Continual assessment such as course work and projects is not a satisfactory way to do this. To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?

Many people have the opinion that annual examinations are the best way to analyze student’s performance while maintaining that continuous assessments such as weekly assignments and project work are an unsatisfactory way to assess the student. I agree with the statement to some extent as I believe that assessing students continuously can help improve their performance to the most extent. Ċ To begin with, analyzing student’s performance frequently could make the course easier for them. To elucidate, if the course work is divided into small tasks and assigned weekly, the burden on students will be reduced. Ultimately, they can concentrate more on the concept rather than memorizing the whole concept and making mistakes during the annual exam. For example, many schools in Australia have introduced this phenomenon of dividing the subject into different sections and then assessing them individually. As a result, they found that student’s performance boosted to 35% compared to the past where they were assessed only once a year. Ċ Furthermore, if the students are assessed through formal exams, they might not feel motivated and might not perform to the best of their knowledge. To exaggerate, if students are analyzed repeatedly, they not only feel encouraged but also boost their confidence in the subject which will help them to complete the task even more confidently. For instance, a study shows that students feel enthusiastic and more confident when they are assessed repeatedly. It is, therefore, extremely important that students feel motivated when they study in order to perform better. Ċ To conclude, although formal examination can be used to assess student’s performance, frequently analyzing the students with the assignments and projects could make them encouraged and motivated. Hence, I believe that analyzing student performance continuously could improve their performance.