Continuous assessment versus final tests

Nowadays in most universities and high schools continuous assessment and final tests are one of the most used methods of evaluation. Both continuous assessment and final exams have advantages but personally I think that final exams are a less reliable assessment than continuous tests. 

On the one hand, continuous assessment is a good way for students to improve their marks along the course, and it is also a good method for teachers to evaluate the students’ work and improvement. That kind of assessment decreases the pupils’ pressure, which doesn’t happen with final exams.

On the other hand, continuous tests imply a larger number of exams than final ones, and what’s more, the content increases in each exam so you have to improve the last content and work hard on the new one. Nevertheless, you don’t don't risk everything in one exam but all the exams that you do along course are evaluated. Last but not least, final tests involve that students don’t work the entire course only they do it during the last week before the exam and that’s not good for them.

For all aforementioned reasons, I agree with continuous exams as a method of assessment because it allows teachers to have a global view of each student on the subject and let students learn better.

Lía Moreno 2A