Research paper on effectiveness of exams

Are the exams effective in making students actually

learn and is there a generational difference in views

on this issue?

Name: Oli Ullah Chowdhury

ID-

1220357030

ENG105

Section-16

Submitted to Shafqat Chaudhuri (ShC)

Submitted on 24th

August 2014

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank my teacher Mr. Shafqat Chaudhuri who

encouraged me and allowed me to do my research on “Generational

differences in views about whether exams are effective in making

students actually learn”. Without his support, it would have been

impossible for me to complete my research. I would also like to

thank those who took time out of their busy lives and completed

my questionnaires. I would also like to thank my friends and my

family, who supported me in doing the research. And in the end, I

would like to thank the almighty Allah, without whom, none of

this would have been possible at all.

Abstract

The topic of my research is to find out the effectiveness of

exams and how the generations think about its effectiveness. My

proposed research is “Is there any generational difference in

views about whether exams are effective in making students

actually learn?” I need to find out the difference in views

between both the younger generation and older generation. I

divided both the generation based on their age. The younger

people whose age starts from 16-35 falls in the younger

generation and the older people whose age starts from 35 and

above are the older generation. My hypothesis was to find out

whether there is any generational difference in views about the

effectiveness of exams. In order to find it out, I have conducted

both the primary research and secondary research. My primary

research was based on the two samples of the generation and their

response on the survey questionnaire. The secondary research was

based on the information that were collected through online

articles and journals. After conducting both the research I have

drawn a conclusion which is there is no such difference in views

about whether exams are effective in making students actually

learn. Both the generation agreed on the fact that exams are

still quite effective sorts of assessment and students can

effectively show their talent through it. Although they both

agreed on the fact that exams create pressures on students, those

pressures can easily be sorted out. They also agreed on the fact

that case related question should be best format of the questions

that are needed to be designed. Finally, both the generation

agreed that exams are an effective tool of evaluating students

but some sorts of adjustments or modifications for example,

bringing some changes or innovations and changing the formats of

the questions will help exams to be a better evaluation system

than before. So, I can conclude on the fact that my hypothesis

was not confirmed and there is no such difference in views

between the younger and older generation about whether exams are

effective in making students actually learn.

Table of content

Table of Content

Introduction

Background

Areas of research

Hypothesis

Methodology

Data presentation analysis

Summary of the research findings

Conclusion

Reference

01

02-04

05-08

09

10

11

12-31

32-34

35

36

01

Introduction

Historically, Exams are the most popular sorts of assessment that

has been practiced throughout the world. Basically, Exams refer

to an assessment intended to measure a test taker’s knowledge,

skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classifications in many

other topics. Exams are basically administered on a paper or on a

computer or in a confined area that requires the test taker to

perform certain sorts of physical skills. In modern days, exams

are the integral part of human life. It implies the real quality

of a test taker and defines whether he/she is appropriate for the

certain type of position. To reach at a certain stage, students

need to go through a lot of exams and have to do well in order to

differentiate themselves from others. A lot of value is given to

exams in a student life and it is treated like one of the most

important thing in his life. People usually judge students by

their ability to perform certain tasks but in order to master in

those tasks, the candidate needs to go through a particular sort

of assessment. The most common sort of assessment for judging

students is exams. But most of the students don’t prefer to

attend this type of assessment particularly exams. Some of them

may have some idle reason not to attend those but the others are

also having a doubt about whether exams are truly helping the

out. Exams can be both open book and closed book. Open book exams

are basically a sort of assessment where the test taker is given

the chance to take a look from the book but in a closed book

exam, it is not permitted.

02

Since ancient times, China had the written imperial exams where

the candidates were judged to carry out the responsibilities of

the state. There is no clear evidence about when was the exam

actually discovered. It has been said that the exams came from

ancient Greeks or china but there is no strong evidence for

supporting the argument. But it has been said that Henry A.

Fishel was the person who invented exams as a sorts of

assessment. He was a professor at Indiana University teaching

eastern languages and cultures. Since the exams have been

invented, it has been practicing widely for assessing a student

certain skills.

Exams do affect the students psychologically which can create a

lot of problems in their life. But according to the website of

ekennedy, Malathi and damodaran stated “A student under optimal

stress does bring out his or her best, however extremes of stress

can result in stress induced disorders and deteriorating

performance.” A student can control some certain amount of

pressures but too much of it can be harmful for them. Besides,

exams may cause them suffering from fever or any other common

diseases which will interrupt their studies. But stresses and

other physical effects will not last longer and minimized if a

student feels he can easily bear those.

There are generally two types of exams that have been practiced

widely. They are general exams and standardized exams. General

exams are basically those types of exams that are taken

occasionally and they don’t have any major influence on a student

life as they face it frequently.

03

On the other hand, Standardized exams are a test that is

administered and scored in a consistent, or "standard", manner.

Standardized tests are designed in such a way that the questions,

conditions for administering, scoring procedures, and

interpretations are consistent and are administered and scored in

a predetermined, standard manner. Standardized exams occur in

some specific dates and it plays a major role in students a life

as it provides certificates.

General exams are taken on a frequent basis and help them to

facilitate their further studies. It has been practiced over the

years and most of the schools, colleges and universities are also

conducts this sorts of exams. But the effectiveness of these

types of exams are in a mark to question and most of the students

do not prefer this sorts of assessment. Although there are a lot

of arguments and counter arguments about the effectiveness of

exams to make students learn, the role of both the general and

the standardized exams is very crucial to a student’s life.

04

Background

From the beginning of the world, Humans suffered from lack of

differentiated methods. It was then hard to find out who has some

certain skills by which he can be differentiated from others.

Since then a common sort of assessment is needed to exactly find

out the skills that lies within human beings. As a part of human

assessment exams was invented as a method of finding out the

human’s hidden skills and thus it could differentiate between the

people. From the early days, exams have been practiced by many of

the schools, colleges and higher educational institutions.

According to an article published on a blog (2009, July13)

“examinations are student’s motivation to learn more. They compel

us to solidify what we have learned, study further and practice

skills. Thank to them, we have to revise old lessons till obtain

all important issues. Thank to them, we have to investigate all

possible questions and unconsciously absorb new knowledge.”

Among the two types of exams that has been practiced, general

exams are the most frequent type and it also plays a significant

role in students life. From the very early days of schools, a

student has to face the fear of exams. They are given a special

care when they are facing school exams and their parents are also

remaining very conscious about it. Generally in Bangladesh, most

of the government or non-government schools take exams in three

times( the first term, Second term and final exams). It is no

longer limited to Bangladesh but practiced throughout east and

perhaps around the whole world. In the west, they also practiced

exams regularly to get the students in to

05

a track where they can remain busy with gaining knowledge.

According to Mathew,(2012, september19) “The situation before

1945 was different, but for two decades or so after that date

most working-class pupils were prevented from sitting public

exams. Denied access not only to fee-paying schools but also to

the grammar schools Labour had established, they could not take

the O-Level courses (established in 1951 to replace the previous

system of School Certificates) initially only taught there. A

situation in which perhaps 80% of each cohort of school students

left without taking exams seems extraordinary in our age of over-

testing and intensified credentialism.”

Then in order to pass the school and get promotion into college,

a student has to pass the standardized exams. In Bangladesh, for

the students of Bengali mediums, there is a standardized exam

calls secondary school certificate and for the English medium

students, there is another standardized exam called O-levels. O-

levels is also practiced in the western countries as it is

derived from there to Bangladesh. After passing those exams,

students are promoted to college for the higher secondary

education. In these level, Bengali medium students need to pass

the Higher Secondary Certificate and the English medium students

need to pass the A-levels. Then they are capable of getting

admission in the universities for higher education.

Throughout the life of a student, he is regularly facing the

distress of education as in order to get educated they need to

pass those exams. In the university life, the students also face

the exams regularly. Students need to pass the exams in order to

get them in the position they want.

06

According to Varshney, A.(n.d.) “ An ability to pass an

examination a valuable quality. It shows the student able to

express his thought and is indeed ideas to a manner others can

understand. It also shows the student has acquired certain amount

of knowledge in some branches of study.”

Exams are required for students to get things properly learn and

make them educated to live this challenging world. Education

plays a significant role in human life which helps them to be a

better human being, to survive in this challenging world, to help

them protected from certain possible threats and finally live a

wonderful life. In order to be properly educated, exams are

important because without the passing the exams of different

levels of education life, none can be called an educated person.

According to Murchie, M. and Wong, A. (2010, june09) “While exams

are certainly effective at forcing students to cram large amounts

of information into their heads, it is far more important that

students learn to do research, work in a team and think for

themselves”. Examinations are therefore an integral part of

students’ academic and personal life.

Although we see how significant exams are in a student’s life,

there are a lot of arguments about the proper effectiveness of

exams. In our regular life, we have to encounter a lot of

examinations and to pass them all, we need to study hard. But

are these types of studies really help students to be properly

educated. Former head of OCR Greg Watson described “they are

ineffective at helping students to learn and instead are geared

towards creating “exam factories”.(as cited by Sandhu, S. 2004,

January 28). Exams are, unfortunately, looked at as an end-all

solution to measuring knowledge. There is no singularly perfect

way to measure one's intellect and working knowledge on any

given subject on a broad scale, similar to how there is no

singularly perfect

07

approach to teaching an entire year of students. This one-size-

fits-all attitude employed by these institutions fails both in

their original intent and their students as it rarely ever

accounts for the fact that students, like most of us, are

actually living individuals with needs, desires, and thoughts.

In addition, today most of the students are not eager for sitting

in the exam hall because they are also realizing the fact it is

depriving them from the actual value of education. The students

are nowadays concerned about the fact are the exams really

helping them out to live the regular life. Much of this

argumentation supports the repeal of exams but do the scholars of

our world any proper answer to that question. Perhaps, they can

say it is the best form of assessment that has been ever

discovered by human being. There is good statement from

Zoughii(n.d.) “Exams also test students´ memory. It is a sad fact

that knowledge required to pass the exam is theoretical, and

sometimes useless. They are taught to think in the wrong way,

because we are surrounded by open-ended problems in real life.”

08

Areas of

Research

My research sample included two groups- the middle age group (who

are more than 35 years old) and the young age group. My research

tried to answer the following questions:

What are exams and how do they work?

What is the general view of people about exams?

How exams are treated among the parents?

What types of assessment exams are done to evaluate the

students?

Are the exams really effective in terms of learning?

What is true learning?

Do the exams assess all the relevant knowledge of a person?

What is the importance of exams in a student’s life?

Does the result generally indicate the actual evaluation?

Do the exams create more pressure on student’s shoulder?

What are the possible reasons about general people’s views?

Is there any difference between the views of the older and

younger generations?

If there is a difference, how wide is the gap, and what are

reasons for it existence?

09

Hypothesis

The effectiveness of exams needed to be justified soon to make

the students better educated and to build them for their better

future. By conducting the research, I expect to find that exams

are no longer the best for assessing students properly and there

are other possible ways to evaluate the students. Since the new

methods of studies and assessment have been introduced, the

position of exams seems quite shaky. I expect the younger

generation will not stick to exams, but they will change this

method of assessment.

On the other hand, the older generation, from my perception, will

attach to exams as they are quite familiar with it and they are

both personally and professionally realizing its effectiveness.

Since they have spent their whole life following this old method

of assessment, supporting the exams from them may not be a big

wonder. But, I believe they will also recommend some sorts of

adjustments that are needed to better understand the depth of

real education. So, I believe there may be a significant

difference between the two generations about the view of the

effectiveness of exams. But, the difference may not too wide to

make people astonished. There will be a slight difference in this

view between the young and middle aged people.

10

Methodology

In order to conduct my surveys, I need to collect information

from various soruces including both primary and secondary

sources. From both of the sources I collected information and

then based on that I draw a conclusion.

For my primary research I conducted surveys among people of

different ages who are quite familiar with the term exam. I

divided my samples into two groups: the first one is the young

generation and then the second is the old aged people. For

conducting the survey, I designed a structured survey

questionnaire with a number of questions to obtain useful data

which in turn helped answering the research questions. My survey

was based on 30 respondents. Among those 15 were the young

people whose ages were below 25 and the rest of the 15 were the

middle or older generations whose ages were above 35. By

analyzing their answer to the survey questions, interpretations

were made accordingly.

For my secondary research, I primarily collected information

from various sources of the internet and made use of search

engines like Google. I also went through online encyclopedias.

Information gathered from these sources helped me better

understand the concepts behind the research subject. By analyzing

what different scholars or authors have written on the

effectiveness exams, I was able to interpret the importance of

justifying the effectiveness of exams in this changing world.

This, in turn, helped me relate to the fact that how the

difference of the views of generation exist about the

effectiveness of exams and how close their point of views are.

11

Data Presentation

Analysis

For my primary source, I designed a structured questionnaire and

the survey consisted of 30 respondents. The questionnaire

contained a total of 13 questions. The respondents had a total of

4 options to answer each question. All of the answers to the 13

questions are analyzed below.

Q1. what do you think about exams?

Description: The chart below shows the responses, represented in

percentages, to the question mentioned above. The X-axis shows

the four different responses to the question. The Y-axis

represents the percentage of respondents. The chart shows both

the percentage for young generation and old generation. Among the

younger generation 66.67% shows exams are good, but not enough

for finding the hidden skills. In addition, 20% of the young

generation said exams are not effective way to increase

efficiency of human skills and 6.67% said exams are the most

effective sort of assessment. On the other hand, among the older

generation 33.33% feel that exam are the most effective sort of

assessment and 66.67% feel that exams are good, but not enough

for finding the hidden skills.

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Younger generationolder generation

Analysis: So far we know that exams are the best sort of

assessment and a lot of older generation believes that exams are

the most effective. Older generations are more attached to exams

than the younger generation and they think the situation that

they have passed will be a better option for their children as

well. On the other hand, the younger generation realized exams

can no longer be the most effective method because new and modern

way of assessment have been discovered and those are also very

effective to assess students. But, they may dislike exams as it

requires more efforts than anything else.

Q2. Do you think exams give stress to students?

12

Description: The chart shows the responses to the question stated

above. The X-axis shows the four different

responses to the question by the respondents. The Y-axis

represents the percentage of respondents for both Younger and

older generation. Among the 13.33% think that exams puts a lot of

pressures on mind nad 66.67% think that it is a bit irritating

for students. Besides, 20% think that the stress of exams can be

controlled. On the other hand, 46.67% think that exams put a lot

of pressures and 20% think that it is a bit irritating for

students. 13.33% think that exams put a lot of pressures on mind

and none of them think that exams do not have any effect.

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Younger generationOlder generation

13

Analysis: Exams are quite stressful and leave an effect on

student mind. Sometimes, students feel irritated by this as well.

But as far as other stresses, it is quite normal. As the students

are facing, they think that it creates pressures and irritates

them because there is a chance to fail or not to do well in the

exams. But for the older generation, it is not quite a concern as

they are familiar with this and they have

come out this situation. For this reason, majority of the older

generation think that it is quite irritating. And majority of the

younger generation think that it puts a lot of pressures on mind

as they are disturbed facing the exams in a regular basis.

Q3. Which format of exams is best according to you?


above. The X-axis shows the four different responses to the

question by the respondents. The Y-axis represents the percentage

of respondents for both Younger and older generation. Among the

the younger generation 46.67% think that case related question

are the best format for exams whereas 86.67% of the older

generation think that as well. However, 33.33% of the young

generation think that multiple questions are the best format for

exams whereas 13.33% of the older generation think that open book

exams are the best format. Open book exams are best format for

6.67% young generation and short question are best for 13.33% of

the younger generation.

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Multiple Questions

Short questions

Open book exams

Case related

questions

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100


Analysis: The interpretation of the above chart is that more of

the younger generations are realizing that solving cases can help

them better understands the topics so does the older generation

feel. Case related questions are more helpful because it enables

students to learn practical and understand the topics in depth.

Most of the instructors are also realizing this fact. Besides,

students prefer to multiple questions as it is easier to earn

marks in those and they don’t need to learn a lot things. Open

book exams also help students not to learn lot of things but to

earn easy marks. In addition, students also prefer short

questions as they think they can write a little if they don’t

study anything.

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Q4. Which areas or skills do the exams have difficulty in

assessing?





young generation 33.33% think that exams have difficulties in

assessing communication skills whereas 86.67% of the older

generation thinks that as well. 26.67% of the young generation

think that exams have difficulties in assessing multi-tasking

skills whereas 6.67% of the older generation think that as well.

26.67% of the young generation think that creative skills whereas

6.67% of the older generation think that so. 13.33% of the

younger generation think that exams have difficulties in

assessing the corporate skills and none of the older generation

think about that.

16

0

20

40

60

80

100

Younger generationolder generation

Analysis: The interpretation of the above chart is that majority

of the younger generation think communication skills are most

difficult to assess so does the older generation. Since exams are

basically handwritten and the examinee does not need to talk with

anyone, communication skills are not judged. Besides, exams do

have some problems in multitasking as well since it is attended

by one person and he is judged by only his performance. Further,

a lot of respondents also think that exams have problems in

assessing creative skills because most of the exams are formatted

with short or broad questions and required to answer properly. So

there is in no way to judge creative skills though nowadays

instructors give questions that require creativity to answer. And

less respondents think that exams can’t assess corporate skills

because the materials that covered in the exams are mostly

outdated and not related with practical stuffs.

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Q5. What type of topic is covered in the exams?





younger generation, 80% of them think that exams cover only the

important topics of the course whereas 73.33% of the older

generations think that as well. On the other hand, 20% of the

younger generations think that exams cover those topics those

topics that the teacher is very familiar with whereas none of the

older generation think so. 13.33% of the younger generations

think that exams cover the general topic of the course whereas

20% of the older generations think that as well. Lastly, 6.67% of

the

younger generations think that each and every topic is covered in

the exams whereas the same portion of the older generation thinks

that as well.

18

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of both younger and older generation think that exams do cover

the important materials of the subject or course. As exams are

taken on a limited period of time and can’t access anything, the

easiest way to teach students by making them learn the things

that will help them in their future. The time frame of the exams

and students preferences forces the instructors to give the

important topics in the exams. However, some instructors teach

the students only those topics that he or she is very familiar

with. If the instructor knows something really well, then he or

she should teach them to his students. Sometimes exams are also

taken on the basis of the general topics as it is necessary for

students to have knowledge in most of the thing. But, at last all

the course materials are designed

19

by the instructors or teacher and it is his choice what to teach

and what to not.

Q6. Do you think exams are truly effective way of getting things

learned?





young generation 46.67% think that exams do require some type of

modification whereas 73.33% of the older generation think that

so. However, 40% of the young generation think that exams is not

good enough to get things learn whereas none of the older

respondents think that. 26.67% of the older generations think

that exams are the most effective way of getting things learn

whereas 13.33% of the young respondents think that so.

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of both the young and older generations think that exams should

be more detailed and requires some modification. Exams are

usually cover a limited number of topics and its method is not

changing appropriately. If more things are being covered by

exams, then the overall knowledge of the student can be more

appropriately assessed. Besides, a lot of the young generation

think that it is no longer good enough to get things learned

because they are facing the thing only studying for one or two

days anyone can do good in exams and since it requires the

memorizing materials it is no longer can judge students what he

learned. But, the older generation think that it is the most

effective way because they think the position that they are now

belongs to or the things that they have learned is all due to

exams. It played a valid role in their life.

Q7. Do you think exams are the best form of testing students?

Description: The chart above shows the responses, represented in



represents the percentage of respondents. It shows 66.67% of the

young respondents think that exams are the best form, but there

are other alternative ways as well and 80% of the older

respondents think that so. 33.33% of the young respondents think

that it is not good enough whereas 20% of the older respondents

think that exams are definitely the best form of evaluation.

21


of both the young and older respondents think that exams are the

best form of assessing students but there are other alternative

ways like case studies, oral presentation, creative writing about

the subjects etc. Exams are historically used as an evaluating

tool but with the time pass on, new and sophisticated ways have

emerged which are also effective in terms of evaluation. However,

Yes Definitely

Yes, but there are other ways to

NO, not good enough

No, not at all

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Younger GenerationOlder Generation

a significant number of young respondents think that exams are

not good enough because the new methods are also quite healthy as

they require the student’s minds to work, the knowledge they have

gained so far. Hence, those methods should also be used alongside

exams.

Q8. Do you think your results of the exams will help you in your

career?


percentages, to the question

22

mentioned above. The X-axis shows the four different responses to

the question. The Y-axis represents the percentage of

respondents. Among the young respondents 46.67% think that

sometimes it helps students in their career whereas 73.33% of the

older generation think that as well. On the other hand, 20% of

the young respondents believe that it will help them in their

career whereas 26.67% think that so. 20 % of the young

respondents are not sure about it and 13.33% think that it will

never help them in their career.

Yes, they will

Yes, sometimes

Not sure

NO, not at all

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Analysis: The interpretation of the above chart indicates that

exams sometimes will help students in their career life. Exams do

cover the materials that are needed for students in their future

life. It tries to teach them as many things as it can but due to

some valid reasons it does not happened. The persons who get help

from the exams believe that it will help them as well. But among

the younger generation since they have not yet entered into their

career life, they cannot realize the value of exams. So, they

believe that it will not help them in their career life.

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Q9. Do you think students can show their talent more effectively

without exams?




represents the percentage of both the young and older

respondents. Among the younger generation 26.67% of them think

that they can effectively show their talent through exams whereas

60% of the older respondents think that as well. On the other

hand, 46.67% of the younger respondents think that they can’t

show their talent without exams but some sorts of adjustments

will be helpful whereas 20% of the older respondents think that

as well. And 20% of both the younger and older generation no they

can never be able to show their talent without exams.

0

20

40

60

Younger GenerationOlder generation

24

Analysis: The interpretation of the above chart is that exams are

historically an effective tool to measure talent but with the

change of time and era its effectiveness gets augmented. Older

generation are familiar with it so they think its an effective

tool but the younger generation have realized that exams are no

longer the most effective tool. New methods are there to evaluate

students and they can be more effective. But they also think that

changing the format of the questions or teaching methods can help

exams to regain its position.

Q10. What do you think about true learning?

Description: The chart above shows the responses, represented in



represents the percentage of for both younger and older

generation. Among the young respondents 66.67% think that true

learning is something that will help them to improve their skills

whereas 73.33% of the older respondents think that as well. On

the other hand, 26.67% of the young respondents think that true

learning helps students to understand the topics in depth and

13.33% of the older respondents think that as well. 13.33% of the

older respondents think that it is something that help them to

reach their goals 6.67% of the young respondents think that so.

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Analysis: The interpretation of the above chat is that majority

of both the young and older respondents think that true learning

helps students to improve their skills. Learning is the process

whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of

experience. And this experience helps them to improve their skills

towards doing certain things. A skilled man is an asset to

country and an asset to a family. True learning makes students

deeply acquire the thoughts nad execute them properly in their

life. Besides, true learning helps students to deeper understand

the topics and gain knowledge from it. Deeper understanding is

the result when learners think about their thinking. True

learning makes students to think deeply and by doing so their

curiosity will make them realize more complicated things. That’s

why both the young and older respondents think true learning

helps students to understand the topics in depth.

26

Q11. Are the standardized exams really important in a student

life?





respondents. Among the young respondents 53.33% believe that

standardized exams are most important because it shows how a

student is compared to a vast majority whereas 86.67% of the

older respondents think that so. However, 13.33% of the young

respondents believe that standardized exams are not important in

student’s life whereas none of the older respondents think that.

6.67% of the young respondents think it does not represent the

overall talent of a student.

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Analysis: The interpretation of the above chart shows that

majority of both the young and older respondents think

standardized exams are most important because it shows how a

student is

27

compared to vast majority. As standardized exams are used as a

level of education, passing those exams handsomely separates a

student from others in our country. Besides, it makes the other

people realize that those student’s level of education and

learning has improves so they should be given higher education to

perceive their knowledge. But standardized exams are also not

properly designed as some of the respondents believe it is not

important or it does not represent the real talent of a student.

Standardized exams are mostly designed on some specific topics

and require only the important materials which can limit a

student’s thirst of acquiring knowledge.

Q12. Do you think exam put more pressures on student’s shoulder?





respondents. Among the younger respondents 53.33% think that

exams do create a lot of pressures on students whereas 86.67% of

the older respondents think that that as well. 26.67% of the

younger respondents think that the pressures of exams can be

handled whereas 13.33% of the older respondents think that as

well. 13.33% of the younger respondents think that exams do not

create pressures whereas 6.67% of them think that exams do not

create pressures but it makes the students a bit tensed.

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020406080


Analysis: The interpretation of the above chart is that most of

the both younger and older respondents think that exams create a

lot of pressures. Exams are sometimes hassling as it requires

students to perform well in order to pass. Besides, in the

standardized exams there is a tendency to do really good which

creates pressures on students. But both the younger and older

respondents know that the pressures can be handled as at a

certain age people need to learn how to take pressures and

students life is the best time to develop habits. Besides, for

some students, it is not a big deal to attend exams as they can

easily release pressures from them but it makes students a little

bit tensed to an extent.

Q13. What can be the alternative method used to evaluate

students?


percentages, to the question

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mentioned above. The X-axis shows the four different responses to

the question. The Y-axis represents the percentage of both the

young and older respondents. Among the young respondents 53.33%

think that presenting the idea in their own words whereas 26.67%

of the older respondents think that as well. On the contrary,

26.67% of both the young and older respondents believe that

students should be assessed by their overall class performance.

40% of the older respondents believe that doing assignments

should be used as an alternative method whereas 20% of the young

respondents believe that as well. Just only a small portion 6.67%

of the young respondents believes that giving oral presentation

should be used.

0

20

40

60



of the respondents believe that presenting orally the idea of the

students in a particular topic would be more effective. Since

students are no longer interested in memorization, they are

looking forward to the system that

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can judge them by their intellectual knowledge. In order to show

what they have actually learned, they should be allowed to

express the things in their own words. Besides, students overall

class performance can also a good way to evaluate because most of

the students are not eager to study but pay attention to the

class lectures. They learn certain things in the class which

might help them their future but not in the exams. In addition,

doing assignments are also an effective tool for evaluation

because it helps them to learn some practical things and execute

the knowledge they have gained.

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Summary of Research

Findings

From my research, I found out that there is almost the same views

on the matter “ Are the exams effective in making students

actually learn and is there any generational difference on this

issue?

Both of the generations have almost quite same views on this

controversial issue. For example in most of the questions both

generation agreed on the same answer, like the question “what do

you think about exams?” And in the questions that require some

suggestions like “Which format of exams is best according to

you?” Majority of both the younger and older generation have

almost the same answer.

About the exams making students actually learn and are there any

generational view on this issue, my research findings do not

agree with my hypothesis. There is no such a difference on the

generational view on this issue. Both the younger samples and the

older samples agree with each other in most of the questions.

Majority of the young generations think that exams are good but

not enough to find out the hidden skills and the older

generations also agree with them. They believe that exams are not

the best methods to find out the hidden and potential skills of a

student. They also agreed on the fact that case related questions

are the best format of questions according to both the young and

older generation. Case related questions help them to better

understand the materials according to both of the samples. But

they do not agree on the facts that exams create more pressures

on students. According to the older generation, exams are a

little bit irritating for students but the pressures that have

been created by it can easily be handled.

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Students should learn how to control pressures and how to

overcome those anxiety created by exams.

However, they do agree on the fact that exams have problems in

assessing the communication problems though a lot of younger

respondents think multitasking and creative skills can’t also be

evaluated by exams. Both of the generations agree that exams do

cover the materials of a subject that are important and crucial

for life not all of the topics. It deprives them from entering

into the vast ocean of knowledge. In addition, exams will also

help students in their career and make them execute the knowledge

they have gathered in their academic life and it is agreed by

both of the generations. They also agreed on some complicated

issues like “Are the standardized exams really important in

student’s life?” They replied it is most important because it

differentiates those students who have successfully passed those

levels than those who have not yet reached those levels. But,

there is a mixed view about the possible alternative method of

exams as most of the younger generation think that presenting

their ideas in their own words about a topic will be the best

alternative of exams whereas the older generations think that

doing assignments will be more effective method to evaluate

students. If the students are given the chance of presenting

their own ideas about a topic then it will be easier for them to

express what they have learned so far. However, sophisticated

type of assignments will help students to increase their skills

about a particular thing and help them to learn how to execute

their knowledge.

Finally, both the generation agreed on the fact that exams are so

far quite effective method to

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assess students but some sorts of adjustments or modifications in

the method can help it to be more effective.

For example, changing the pattern of the questions or giving more

creative or case related questions will help students better

understand the depth of a topic and then execute the knowledge

they have gained. It will help the instructors as well because it

helps them to properly differentiate the wiser and smart students

with their prolific answers. As both of the generations have

agreed on the same fact most of the questions, it is obvious that

there is no significant difference between them and the

hypothesis is wrong.

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Conclusions

To conclude, the effectiveness of exams should be enhanced more

in order to make the students better evaluated. My hypothesis was

to find out if there is a generational difference in views about

whether exams are effective in making students actually learn.

After conducting both the primary and secondary research, I found

out that there is no such difference in views. Both of the

generation agreed on the fact exams is so far quite effective

tool to measure student but some sorts of adjustments or

modifications will help exams to be a better evaluation tool. The

findings of my research prove that there is still not a big gap

in terms of thinking between both the younger and older

generation. Majority of the respondents suggested that the

general exams can be taken by changing the pattern or format of

the question for example, giving case related questions for

business students and include more practical knowledge. The

greater the practical knowledge will be there, the more the

students will be able to learn and can show their talent. This

can be applied in the standardized exams as well because the

standard of those exams are also should be developed. As it

requires student to complete a certain level of education,

increasing the standard of the exams will help students to be

better evaluated and increase their skills. This research proves

that exams are still a better form of assessment and some

adjustments or modifications can make it a better evaluation

system.

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References

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Zoughii,. Are exams actually necessary? Teen ink. Retrieved from:

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Research paper on effectiveness of exams

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