ARE EXAMINATIONS A FAIR WAY OF TESTING OUR KNOWLEDGE

Examination, invented in the late 19th century by an American businessman named Henry Fischel, is described as a
formal test of a person's knowledge or proficiency in a subject or skill. The first-ever exam was conducted in China
and it was the first country to adopt the concept of exams. However, even if examinations are needed in order to
know if the students can move to the next class, it does not necessary mean that it is a fair way of testing the
knowledge of students.

In some point of view examinations can be seen as a fair way of evaluating the students for several
reasons. Firstly, many people argue that the uniformity of exams provide an objectives and sure way of
testing students. This is because all students are taught at the same time and under the same
circumstances. They are also examined using the same questions and are expected to give the same
range of answers. The same range of grades is equally available for all students who are graded based
on their performances. This appears to be a fair deal.

Secondly, as a comprehensive test of knowledge, exams are a very good method of testing the students.
It demonstrates how the students and what the students have learned. This way, all students are being
examined on the same basic level of difficulty and understanding. Thirdly, some people believe that
examinations are not fair as it is just written to know whether whatever has been taught in the class you
know it or not. We are not taught practically in the class nor we get any industrial exposure, we are
merely asked to mug up answers with the bookish knowledge, we are not taught beyond what is
necessary.
On the other hand, examinations can be seen as not being a fair way of testing the student’s knowledge. To begin,
examinations can cause harm the mental and physical health of the students. Sometimes even if the students have
well revised, they are stressed with the examination and this tends to affect their well performance in the
examination room. Therefore, it is not fair as the student lost all his or her capacity in the exams and tend to be at
his or her lowest for the exams. Stress caused various other sickness which can be both physical and mental, for
example, depression which can lead sometimes to suicide. Hence it is not fair for the students to be disrupt like
this.

Moreover, another reason why examinations are not fair is because of the lecturers’ discretion. Students could
prepare adequately for exams and end up not scoring good grades. Despite the availability of a marking scheme,
some lecturers go overboard their marking scheme by using their discretion to mark the students. Some consider
the handwriting of a student, choice of words or overall presentation while scoring the papers of the participant.
This does not actually negate the fact that the student studied and understood the knowledge imparted. But the
question becomes how can you then test a student’s knowledge via a lecturer’s discretion?

Lastly, exams are not effective at evaluating students’ academic skills as the grades obtained by the students can
be biased. Mainly if the students are cheating, it is not fair that some students are working hard to have good
grades and are trying to remember everything they have learned in school to be able to do well for their
examinations, while other students are just not being honest by cheating to get good grades. It is not equal as it
should be the case for all the students.

To conclude, it is true that examinations are crucial in order for the schools or academic institutions to allow the
students to go to the next class and help the students to know about their performance and also capacity, but as it
can be seen examinations can have both its advantages and drawbacks when it is about fairness. Personally, I think
that examinations are not really a fair way of testing students, even if I am aware of its importance, as it is a real
source of stress and frustrations and also because we cannot be sure that all the students are benefited of the
same equality because of risks of cheating.