What is, or are, the point of tests? Is it really just to assess master of material? So goes the assumption of this article by Aviva Rutkin in NewScientist (2 January 2016):
A new algorithm could both improve your knowledge and do away with formal tests altogether. Developed by researchers at Stanford University and Google in California, it analyses students’ performance on past practice problems, identifies where they tend to go wrong and forms a picture of their overall knowledge.
But I think mere assessment is a little naive. Tests are, by their nature, pressure-cookers, and the ability to perform under pressure is an essential part of the human experience. I don’t like it; I hated tests. But you must recognize they force students to prepare and to perform; those who do neither come to know their failures and adapt – or drop out.
No one lives a stress-free life – so why not prepare for it as a by-product of learning?
