Changing Tide of Exam Time

We’re in the thick of exams and in the years since COVID I’ve observed the system’s deliberate attempt to “de-escalate” the anxiety created by exams. I find it disappointing that instead of coaching our students to respond to stress so they can rise to the occasion, they’ve elected to “neuter” exams by completely replacing them with culminating projects or reducing difficulty by meaningfully decreasing the volume of testable content. Should exams be the only type of culminating activity? Absolutely not - I just think exams do more good from a development perspective than critics give them credit for.

Exams provide an incredible testing ground for honing your ability to prepare and perform under pressure. The skills associated with exam prep and execution will be omnipresent in their lives, so why not take this as an opening to start teaching them how to handle it? Think about it: you’re given material you’re expected to know, specific questions you may not be able to anticipate but will have to answer, and a time constraint to do it all in. These three descriptors could be applied to a multitude of important life scenarios: job interviews, professional certification tests, client sales pitches, presentations, speaking engagements, postsecondary entrance exams, etc.

I’m not advocating that we expose our students to unnecessarily difficult exams; however, eliminating or meaningfully “softening” them does a disservice to our students. Teachers lose access to meaningfully teachable moments and students lose opportunities to experience stress and pressure in a controlled environment, make mistakes, and learn how to adjust their approach for responding to high pressure situations.