Essay, Paragraph or Speech on “Examination System” Complete English Essay, Speech for Class 10, Class 12 and Graduation and other classes.

Examination System

Sons and daughters are sent to school by parents so that they can acquire education. Teachers work year in and year out to fulfill the task which society entrusts to them. The students are expected to study hard throughout the session. If no examinations were to be held periodically, neither teachers nor students would know the result of their efforts. Besides, examinations present a goal before students so that they know the amount of work which must be put in within a definite period.

Examinations inspire them and their work becomes systematic and study is done in a well-planned manner Therefore, the examinations have a two-fold function. First, they fix up a goal and thus direct the efforts of students and teachers towards its achievement. Secondly, examinations lay down before the parents and society an assessment of the progress of students. In this way examinations are necessary their place and importance in the educational system cannot be challenged.

In spite of such importance of examinations, some people want them to be abolished they are of the view that examinations are of no good and do positive harm to the cause of education. They encourage copying and Vie use of unfair rends. The students form the habit of cheating. This is an extreme view. There are others who consider examinations essential. They emphasize only their merits. But the truth lies between these two extremes. Let us first examine the merits of examination.

Examination is the lime of demonstration. Students have to show to the examiners that they know the answers to the questions set in the question paper. They do so by expressing their ideas and feelings in the form of written answers. Those who have good power of expression are always gainers. To secure good marks one should be able to express oneself well. Now, to gain success, students try to develop this power. Moreover, the nature of the present essay type examinations s such that by itself it develops this important aspect of personality.

 While answering questions students are required to give reasons for their views. They cannot do so without giving due thought to the various arguments. They have to use their own .intelligence. In the limited time which they get in the examination, only select material can be given. They must leave out much from the material which they know but which they consider useless from the point of view of the particular question. In this way examinations help to develop the power of thinking reasoning and making correct judgment.

Preparations for examinations have to be made in advance. No single book can supply the required material on the particular topic. Students have to consult a number of books for preparing the topics thoroughly. They have to take out of the books a part of the material and leave the rest. They then arrange this material in a systematic order. Thus, students get trained in selecting and arranging their material. They learn to distinguish between the relevant and the irrelevant part of the subject matter. Thus, by fixing the goal, examinations provide incentive for hard and regular work.

This is only the bright side of the picture. Now let us examine the dark side also. There is no such scale for marking the answer books as may give definiteness to the marks scored by the students. The marking is purely subjective. The same examiner may give different marks on the same answer book. lf he is asked to examine it at two different times. If the answer book of the same student is given to two different examiners, they are likely to give quite different marks. Thus, the marks obtained in the present essay type examinations are not the true test of merit. They are quite often misleading.

Lengthy answers sometimes help in securing good marks. Therefore, students mug up answers to different questions without understanding the sense and at times without understanding the language. Those who are good at cramming always get benefit. Students, thus become good parrots but poor brains. The sole aim of education these days is to pass the examination. Students hanker after short cuts and cheap notes. ‘Guess Papers’, ‘Atom Bomb of Success’, ‘Twenty-Four Hours Before Examination’, ‘Sure Success at Examinations’ and the like find favour with the students. As a result, there is no love for knowledge and no taste for serious study.

Another drawback of examinations is that they fail to measure what they claim to measure. Through a paper on Science, Geography or History, the knowledge of that particular subject is not tested. Language and expression play an important part. One who knows the subject matter well but is weak in Hindi or one whose writing speed is slow, will never fare well in the examination. Moreover, the question papers do not cover the whole course. A student who has prepared three-fourths of the course thoroughly but has neglected the remaining one fourth, secures less marks than the student who has prepared only that one-fourth if the questions are set mainly from that one-fourth pad. Marks obtained, therefore, depend more on chance than on the real caliber of the examinees.

The National Policy on Education (NPE) was declared in 1986 and again a new NPE was updated/revised in 1991. Slowly and surely, the educational system was aligned with the modern Western system. During the last one decade many doubts have been raised about the efficacy of this system. Success in examination, its detractors say, depends on various strokes of good luck. The whims of the paper setter are one of these. If he sets the – questions that the students are expecting and have prepared only those, the students pass with flying colours. The examiner evaluates it leniently and the level of leniency depends upon his whims and the yardstick set by him or by the examination board. A student may have understood much of the subject matter of a syllabus but if his expression is poor and so, we never get a correct picture about his knowledge. If a student appears in the examination while no is ill or is under various psychological strains, he fares badly. To some extent, these circumstances are improved by the introduction of an objective-type set of questions that require no language competence and the viva voce or interview during which, the candidate may make up for any deficiency he had In the written medium. A good interviewer may also ‘Try to evaluate a candidate by probing his intrinsic grasp of a subject.

Some sections of the academic world are of the view that jobs should be completely delinked from examinations. Many companies have a personnel recruitment policy that candidates must be tested for attitudes rather than the mere ability to store information in one’s brains like a computer. Many high-level organisations dispense with written tests and concentrate on an informal get-together with shortlisted candidates. This enables them to learn about the basic traits in their personalities—hard work, rational thinking, flexible approach, adjustability, analytical skills, judgment abilities, behaviour during stressful situations, etc.

The menace of corruption has also crept into our examination system. Papers are leaked out so that many can make their careers without efforts. Tuition centres catering to commercial teaching have sprung up. Evaluators are bribed and even threatened. Sometimes it is not possible to maintain secrecy of question papers at any stage. Copying from books or other candidates is very common. It has an element of drama because the candidate using unfair means might have a tell-tale dagger stuck on his desk as a warning to interfering invigilators!

After considering all the merits and demerits of examinations, we may conclude that examinations are a necessary evil. However, they cannot be completely done away with, though the way and the form in which they are held need reform. There are so many serious defects in the present system of examinations that their purpose is completely defeated.

Many ways of reforming the examination system have been suggested. One of them is the setting of objective type questions instead of the present system in which the questions require long, essay type answers. In this way, it becomes possible to cover the whole course and the personal factor is eliminated. This method has been used with success in medical and other competitive examinations. However, its great drawback is that it does not develop the expressive power of the students. Careful thinking is needed before objective tests are introduced in schools and colleges. In some Western countries, examinees are permitted to consult books in a library while they appear in their examinations. This practice may be emulated the papers must be set in a manner so as to prevent copying verbatim. The examinee must probe deeply into a book and must infer the answer by using his intelligence. So, what is needed is an overall reform in our examination system. Without this, our degrees are mere pieces of paper and do not indicate real achievement or progress.