Do you think formal written examinations are a good way to assess knowledge at school?

Essay topics:

Do you think formal written examinations are a good way to assess knowledge at school?

These days, there is an ongoing debate between people about formal examinations and if it is a
good way to assess a student’s performance at school. While it is possible to claim that written exams are a way to test how much a student has learnt, my view is that the disadvantages outweigh the advantages. In this essay, I shall explain my point of view by analyzing both sides of the argument.

There are several reasons why a written exam may not be the best way to judge a student. One of them is that simply knowledge is not enough. It is important to learn how to apply knowledge. It can also be argued that just because a person can memorize information and convey it during the exam, it doesn’t mean he or she will be able to apply it in the real world successfully. It should also be taken into account that practical skills are more important than knowledge
For example, a person can write an exam about techniques of construction, but if he doesn’t know to
construct something practically, this knowledge is useless. Those who argue for written examinations have a different view and say that it can actually be a good thing.

Firstly, it is claimed that it tests how much a student can retain key information in their memory. Then, there are concerns about not knowing the theory first before getting to the practical side of things.

While there are strong arguments on both sides of the case, my personal opinion is that formal written exam should not be the only way students are assessed. I would strongly recommend that more practical assessment methods be included to measure performance more accurately.

Votes
Average: 7.2 (1 vote)
Essay Categories

Comments

Grammar and spelling errors:
Line 4, column 384, Rule ID: ENGLISH_WORD_REPEAT_BEGINNING_RULE
Message: Three successive sentences begin with the same word. Reword the sentence or use a thesaurus to find a synonym.
...pply it in the real world successfully. It should also be taken into account that ...
^^
Line 10, column 64, Rule ID: PERSONAL_OPINION_FRIENDSHIP[1]
Message: Use simply 'opinion'.
Suggestion: opinion
...arguments on both sides of the case, my personal opinion is that formal written exam should not ...
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Transition Words or Phrases used:
actually, also, but, first, firstly, if, may, so, then, while, for example

Attributes: Values AverageValues Percentages(Values/AverageValues)% => Comments

Performance on Part of Speech:
To be verbs : 23.0 10.5418719212 218% => Less to be verbs wanted.
Auxiliary verbs: 11.0 6.10837438424 180% => OK
Conjunction : 5.0 8.36945812808 60% => More conjunction wanted.
Relative clauses : 10.0 5.94088669951 168% => OK
Pronoun: 34.0 20.9802955665 162% => Less pronouns wanted
Preposition: 29.0 31.9359605911 91% => OK
Nominalization: 7.0 5.75862068966 122% => OK

Performance on vocabulary words:
No of characters: 1367.0 1207.87684729 113% => OK
No of words: 285.0 242.827586207 117% => OK
Chars per words: 4.79649122807 5.00649968141 96% => OK
Fourth root words length: 4.10876417139 3.92707691288 105% => OK
Word Length SD: 2.81083950332 2.71678728327 103% => OK
Unique words: 156.0 139.433497537 112% => OK
Unique words percentage: 0.547368421053 0.580463131201 94% => More unique words wanted or less content wanted.
syllable_count: 427.5 379.143842365 113% => OK
avg_syllables_per_word: 1.5 1.57093596059 95% => OK

A sentence (or a clause, phrase) starts by:
Pronoun: 12.0 4.6157635468 260% => Less pronouns wanted as sentence beginning.
Article: 1.0 1.56157635468 64% => OK
Subordination: 2.0 1.71428571429 117% => OK
Conjunction: 1.0 0.931034482759 107% => OK
Preposition: 1.0 3.65517241379 27% => More preposition wanted as sentence beginning.

Performance on sentences:
How many sentences: 13.0 12.6551724138 103% => OK
Sentence length: 21.0 20.5024630542 102% => OK
Sentence length SD: 55.9992603501 50.4703680194 111% => OK
Chars per sentence: 105.153846154 104.977214359 100% => OK
Words per sentence: 21.9230769231 20.9669160288 105% => OK
Discourse Markers: 5.69230769231 7.25397266985 78% => OK
Paragraphs: 7.0 4.12807881773 170% => Less paragraphs wanted.
Language errors: 2.0 5.33497536946 37% => OK
Sentences with positive sentiment : 6.0 6.9802955665 86% => OK
Sentences with negative sentiment : 4.0 2.75862068966 145% => OK
Sentences with neutral sentiment: 3.0 2.91625615764 103% => OK
What are sentences with positive/Negative/neutral sentiment?

Coherence and Cohesion:
Essay topic to essay body coherence: 0.194135206283 0.242375264174 80% => OK
Sentence topic coherence: 0.069067748652 0.0925447433944 75% => OK
Sentence topic coherence SD: 0.0847176712472 0.071462118173 119% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence: 0.0880563149028 0.151781067708 58% => OK
Paragraph topic coherence SD: 0.0656840679271 0.0609392437508 108% => OK

Essay readability:
automated_readability_index: 12.1 12.6369458128 96% => OK
flesch_reading_ease: 58.62 53.1260098522 110% => OK
smog_index: 3.1 6.54236453202 47% => Smog_index is low.
flesch_kincaid_grade: 10.3 10.9458128079 94% => OK
coleman_liau_index: 10.56 11.5310837438 92% => OK
dale_chall_readability_score: 7.89 8.32886699507 95% => OK
difficult_words: 58.0 55.0591133005 105% => OK
linsear_write_formula: 11.0 9.94827586207 111% => OK
gunning_fog: 10.4 10.3980295567 100% => OK
text_standard: 11.0 10.5123152709 105% => OK
What are above readability scores?

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Maximum five paragraphs wanted.

Rates: 72.2222222222 out of 100
Scores by essay e-grader: 65.0 Out of 90
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Note: the e-grader does NOT examine the meaning of words and ideas. VIP users will receive further evaluations by advanced module of e-grader and human graders.