14/05/2011

Are exams really harmless ?

Exam is a typical way of assessing students' knowledge and skills learnt in school, college, university or other educational institution. This system of evualation is spread world-widely and practised in the majority of countries. Though being so popular, exams do negative impact on the students mental as well as physical health and, in fact, show really little truth about one's knowledge and skills in a particular field of science, and that is why they should be replaced by other type of assessment. To begin with, it is scientifically and statistically proved that examinations create a huge psychological pressure for the students. Understanding the fact that your whole future may depend on one test is a really hard thing to bear. Some students take it so seriously that at one point they may develop depression and other no less serious mental problems. There were many cases when young people due to pre-exam depression even commit suicides. So, these facts tell us that nervousness occurring before an exam negatively influences students mind. The mental problems, developed because of nervousness before exams, strongly affect one's physical health as well. I remember one girl in my former highschool who got really depressed before the exam session. She could not sleep at night, was very nervous, even fainted few times during classes and finally ended up in hospital, where she was treated with very strong antidepressants. Fortunately, she got better and got out of the hospital. However, things as depression do not simply disappear, but leave strong

imprints in person's mind. In addition, other side effects like drowsiness during day time, weakened ability to concentrate, constant tiredness and others may occur before exam session. We see that because of exams our physical health suffers no less than our mental health. Finally, the exam system does not show the exact capabilities, skills and knowledge of a student. Some people are extremely smart but do not do well on examinations. It's hard for some people to put their knowledge on paper. A great many do much better on oral tests and they can express themselves much better in words than on paper. A very often case is when a student comes to examinations and gets a very high grade, however, when he needs to use his knowledge practically he can not do much. So exams are just one part of education which give educators clues on whether or not you are learning at a good rate, but they do not reveile the definitive level of your absorption of study materials. In conclusion, exams do negative impact on ones mental health, leaving some strong imprints on one's mind. As human mind and body have a very close bond to each other, physical health suffers as well. In addition, exams do not show student's real capabilities. Because of these reasons exams should be replaced by other type of assessment, for example, by some kind of creative work, which would really express students skills, knowledge and creativity in a particular field of science. 503 words

Outline

I.Introduction Thesis statement. Though being so popular, exams do negative impact on the students mental as well as physical health and, in fact, show really little truth about one's knowledge and skills in a particular field of science, and that is why they should be replaced by other type of assessment. II. Body 1. Negative impact on the mental level 2. Negative impact on the physical level 3. Incomplete assessment III. Conclusion In conclusion, exams do negative impact on ones mental health, leaving some strong imprints on one's mind. As human mind and body have a very close bond to each other, physical health suffers as well. In addition, exams do not show student's real capabilities. Because of these reasons exams should be replaced by other type of assessment, for example, by some kind of creative work, which would really express students skills, knowledge and creativity in a particular field of science.

References

1.World Socialist Web Site. Britain: Teenagers driven to depression and suicide by exam pressures, accessed on May 14, 2011 , available at http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jun2004/dep-j25.shtml 2. E Medicine Health. Depression (cont.),accessed on May 14, 2011, available at http://www.emedicinehealth.com/depression/page5_em.htm