by Joost Steffensen

Created on: June 12, 2009   Last Updated: June 13, 2009

The problem with final exams is that they have become an end rather than a means. They should be a means for gauging whether the examinees are prepared for the phase of their life that follows their exams. Instead what follows the test seems irrelevant and subordinate to passing the test.

The result of this is a series of negative consequences that benefit no one. I'll list them here in no particular order.

Students learn test passing skills not life skills

Encouraged by teachers and parents, students focus on learning strategies that increase their chances of inflating their test score. These strategies range from looking at old tests to be familiar with the test format, learning which answers to quickly discard in multiple choice questions to learning rigid ways to phrase answers in order to get maximum results.

Teachers teach to the test not for life

Because teachers increasingly are rewarded based on their student scores they teach in a way which has as its main purpose inflating test scores. Teachers can do this in a number of ways such as limiting their curriculum to topics known to be on the test, phrasing all questions in the same way as the test, doing lots of mock tests, lengthy discussions of mock tests and how to spot the most likely answer if you really don't know and so on.

Parents lose perspective

Parents are sucked along in this hype and lose perspective. They try to impress upon their children that passing the test is imperative to their future success rather than the skills they might acquire. This results in the children growing up with a skewed set of values.

Employers get frustrated

With people graduating who are great at passing tests consisting of long lists of unconnected questions, employers run into the problem that the skill of running large projects that have to be maintained over time, require creative input and real-time problem solving is something that new employees have a hard time mastering. As a result a lot of money is wasted, often in vain, on training and supervision.

So what to do, if there is no final test than how can we know whether students learned anything at all? Is it possible to create a test that can't be gamed or a system that does reach its true objectives (students prepared for life after school)?

Well yes it is possible. As a simple example I will tell you a little bit about a final exam at a technical school where I used to teach. Instead of a series of small tests

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