In the modern world, there are movements away from written exams to practical assessments.
Discuss advantages and disadvantages of this trend.
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Over the last few decades, the ways that educational institutions assess students’ academic performance have significantly changed the world over. As such, in recent days, there is a trend of assessing students’ abilities by practical assessments than written test. Such method has both advantages and disadvantages, and this essay will discuss about them.
On the one hand, the significant benefit of practical test is that it enables to check clear understanding of the concepts, whereas in written exams, assessments are based on learner’s memory capability. For example, in a Biology exam, any person can learn and write about a frog, but to cut and identify the body parts needs some practical understanding. From this it is clear that exam centres are able to test the test taker's knowledge exactly, and thus beneficial to the institutes.
On the other hand, one of the substantial drawbacks of such system is the test centres’ huge investment of money. This means to conduct practical assessments, it is necessary to hold big laboratories and more equipment. For instance, to test the software programming skills, computers with up-to-date facilities are mandatory. This is not in the case of written test where just a room with a pen and paper would be enough. From this example, it is understandable that there are some negatives associated with changing from written to practical test.
To sum up, checking exact student’s understanding of subject and high financial investment are the benefit and drawback of this altering way of students ‘assessment. In my opinion, education centres have to find a viable way to assess students’ level of understanding either by writing or conducting practical evaluations.
task 2< written vs practical>
task 2< written vs practical>
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allen_zhang
- Posts: 362
- Joined: Tue Feb 25, 2014 2:41 am
Re: task 2< written vs practical>
Hi Durai,
A few comments based on my own perspective.
In the modern world, there are movements away from written exams to practical assessments.
Discuss advantages and disadvantages of this trend.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the last few decades, the ways that educational institutions assess students’ academic performance have significantly changed the world over. As such, in recent days, there is a trend of assessing students’ abilities by practical assessments rather than written test. Such method has both advantages and disadvantages, and this essay will discuss about them.
On the one hand, one significant benefit of practical test is that it enables to check clear understanding of the concepts(of what?), whereas in written exams, assessments are based on learner’s memory capability. For example, in a Biology exam, any person can learn and write about a frog, but to cut and identify the body parts needs some practical experience. From this it is clear that exam centres are able to test the test taker's knowledge(real ability?) exactly, and thus beneficial to the institutes.
On the other hand, one of the substantial drawbacks of such system is the test centres’ huge investment of money. This means to conduct practical assessments, it is necessary to hold big laboratories and more equipment. For instance, to test the software programming skills, computers with up-to-date facilities are mandatory. This is not in the case of written test where I doubt about "where" just a room with a pen and paper would be enough. From this example, it is understandable that there are some negatives associated with changing from written to practical test.
To sum up, checking exact student’s understanding of subject and high financial investment are the benefit and drawback of this altering way of students ‘assessment. In my opinion, education centres have to find a viable way to assess students’ level of understanding either by writing or conducting practical evaluations.
the conclusion doesn't provide a constructive suggestion. "either ..or" ? I would say: "a combined way to assess students' ability".
A few comments based on my own perspective.
In the modern world, there are movements away from written exams to practical assessments.
Discuss advantages and disadvantages of this trend.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Over the last few decades, the ways that educational institutions assess students’ academic performance have significantly changed the world over. As such, in recent days, there is a trend of assessing students’ abilities by practical assessments rather than written test. Such method has both advantages and disadvantages, and this essay will discuss about them.
From my understanding,"few" means differently from "a few". I guess you should use "a few" or "several".Over the last few decades
I investigated this before and it seems that "education institutions" means differently from "educational institutions". almost any institution can be "educational institutions", but only those in the field of education can be called "education institution".educational institutions
Do you think that "about" is necessary here? I guess "discuss them" is ok.discuss about them
On the one hand, one significant benefit of practical test is that it enables to check clear understanding of the concepts(of what?), whereas in written exams, assessments are based on learner’s memory capability. For example, in a Biology exam, any person can learn and write about a frog, but to cut and identify the body parts needs some practical experience. From this it is clear that exam centres are able to test the test taker's knowledge(real ability?) exactly, and thus beneficial to the institutes.
On the other hand, one of the substantial drawbacks of such system is the test centres’ huge investment of money. This means to conduct practical assessments, it is necessary to hold big laboratories and more equipment. For instance, to test the software programming skills, computers with up-to-date facilities are mandatory. This is not in the case of written test where I doubt about "where" just a room with a pen and paper would be enough. From this example, it is understandable that there are some negatives associated with changing from written to practical test.
To sum up, checking exact student’s understanding of subject and high financial investment are the benefit and drawback of this altering way of students ‘assessment. In my opinion, education centres have to find a viable way to assess students’ level of understanding either by writing or conducting practical evaluations.
the conclusion doesn't provide a constructive suggestion. "either ..or" ? I would say: "a combined way to assess students' ability".
#1 2013-09-07 L7.5; R8; S6; W6
#2 2014-03-08 L7.5; R7; S7; W5.5
#3 2014-05-10 L7.5; R8; S6.5; W6
#4 2014-06-21 L7.5; R6.5; S5.5; W7
#4 2014-06-21 L7.5; R6.5; S7; W5.5
#2 2014-03-08 L7.5; R7; S7; W5.5
#3 2014-05-10 L7.5; R8; S6.5; W6
#4 2014-06-21 L7.5; R6.5; S5.5; W7
#4 2014-06-21 L7.5; R6.5; S7; W5.5
Re: task 2< written vs practical>
- although the question does not ask for you opinion , you need to to state something conclusive. This conclusion sounds illusive to the reader where nothing is stated clearly.durai wrote:Over the last few decades, the ways that educational institutions assess students’ academic performance have significantly changed. Recently there is a trend of assessing students’ abilities by practical assessments rather than traditional written tests. This newer method has both advantages and disadvantages, and this essay will discuss about them.
On the one hand, the significant benefit of conducting practical tests is that it enables to check clear understanding of the concepts, whereas in written exams, assessments are based on learner’s memorizing capability. For example, in a Biology exam, any person can learn and write about a frog, but to cut and identify the body parts needs practical understanding. From this it is clear that exam centers are able to check the test taker's knowledge precisely via practical tests , and thus this method is beneficial to the institutes as well as to the deserving students
On the other hand, one of the substantial drawbacks of such system is the test centers’ huge investment of money. This means to conduct practical assessments, it is necessary to construct big laboratories and more equipment. For instance, to test the software programming skills, computers with up-to-date facilities are mandatory. This is not in the case of written tests where just a room with a pen and paper can suffice. From this example, it is understandable that there are some negative aspects associated with changing from written to practical tests.
To sum up, checking exact student’s understanding of subject and high financial investment are the benefit and drawback of this altering way of students ‘assessment. In my opinion, education centers have to find a viable way to assess students’ level of understanding either by writing or conducting practical evaluations.
Regards
Re: task 2< written vs practical>
Hi Allen,
'rather than ' but is there anything wrong with using just 'than' ?
discuss about them- is correct, but ' discuss them - sounds more concise.
educational, education - both are correct
the / one significant benefit , both acceptable.
i should written ' to check student's clear understanding of concepts'
'practical experience '- here we talking about how student's understand the subjects, so experience may be inappropriate
'where' is appropriate because i was talking about the place in the example.
i agree- conclsuion needs improvement- i shoiuld given some solution...
'rather than ' but is there anything wrong with using just 'than' ?
discuss about them- is correct, but ' discuss them - sounds more concise.
educational, education - both are correct
the / one significant benefit , both acceptable.
i should written ' to check student's clear understanding of concepts'
'practical experience '- here we talking about how student's understand the subjects, so experience may be inappropriate
'where' is appropriate because i was talking about the place in the example.
i agree- conclsuion needs improvement- i shoiuld given some solution...
JAN 2014 L 8.5 R 8 W 6.5 S 6.5
FEB 2014 L 8 R 8 W 7 S 6.5
APR 2014 L 8 R 9 W 6.5 S 7
JUN 2014 L 8.5 R 7 W 6.5 S 6
July 2014 L 8.5 R 7 W 6.5 S 6.5
OCT 2014 L 7.5 R 7 W 7 S 7
FEB 2014 L 8 R 8 W 7 S 6.5
APR 2014 L 8 R 9 W 6.5 S 7
JUN 2014 L 8.5 R 7 W 6.5 S 6
July 2014 L 8.5 R 7 W 6.5 S 6.5
OCT 2014 L 7.5 R 7 W 7 S 7