Exames – Should they be a thing of the past?

Exams have been used to test pupils for ages. Some people say it is not the best way to assess someone’s performance on a given subject, whereas others assume it is part of educational system and it cannot be abolished. In spite of the different speeches involving the theme, it seems that an efficient way of assenssing studets has not been found yet.

At the university, teachers often use seminars as part of evaluation. Seminars usually involve a group of students working together. You are supposed to have meetings with your classmates and discuss about the subject you are to talk about. I remember that, once I was a Languages and Literature student at Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, a member of the group said something like: “My part is about...”, when presenting his seminar . The teacher strictly condemned his attitutude. I strongly agree with the professor: If you are supposed to present something, you must be involved in all the process. You must be able to deal with the whole theme. Considering this aspect, we can realise that there is always someone in the group who does not do anything and, consequently, there is another who works harder to supply the gaps left by that person.

As a Portuguese teacher in a state school, I used a seminar to assess my eight-grade class, which, by the way, is known as one of the best classes from the school. The theme was about television and its negative points. A handout was given to help their work. I tried to reach out all the students. As a result, there were great presentations. There was even a group which recorded interviews with a video camera and a group which performed a play. I got amazed. On the other hand, there were students who took others for granted. I found out that, in fact, some members have not done anything. They were just reading some papers that one of their classmates wrote. Regarding this point, I think that individual exams are necessary.

I partially agree with the argument from someone who tells me those exams do not measure all the abilities from a student. In addiction to this, I tell him or her that it depends on the way the exam is approached. Nowadays the entry tests for Brazilian universties have changed a lot. Students are not supposed to memorise loads of information as in the past. Therefore, teachers have to emphasise the importance of reading. Nevertheless, there are those who insist on tradicional apporaches. As a teacher, I am always trying to draw my students out of themselves.

As negative points of exams I would mention that students are under the pressure of being always tested. Sometimes we have to go against the clock because the time is not enough to see all the content and an exam is set.

I have been doing my postgraduation in Discourse Analysis at Universidade Federal de Uberlândia. We are having tests in most of the subjects. Sometimes we are supposed to present seminars, and write essays. As I am doing something which appeaks me very much, I feel very comfortable either when having an exam or presenting a lecture to the class.On balance, I think exams are really important. Maybe a good idea would be balancing written exams with oral ones. If there are students who feel free to perform a play on the stage, why not assessing them through their performance? It is very important to notice the different skills a person has.

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P.S.: This piece of writing needs to be checked.