Are exams in schools and colleges really necessary?

Are exams in schools and colleges really necessary? And I am talking of the exams of basic education like high school.. Not the professional ones.. Examination are one of the worst things in most of the students life.. The tension during exam times is...

unbearable and stressful.. So I want to ask- are examinations really necessary? Is what we study for the whole year only depend on what we write in the examination hall for 2-3 hours? Why cant the schools judge students on their activities which they exhibit during the academic year and enroll them to next year?

It doesn't only depend on 2-3 hours in an examination hall... there's a little thing called coursework which counts for about half of the grade.

Employers need official proof of what your education is like, to see if they want to employ you... so yes it is neccessary.

It seems that all of the adults in the world survived exams... so why shouldn't we.

I totally agree. I think that exams are much more to do with how much you can actually remember that how much you know. It's a test of rembering NOT inteligence in my opinion.

Success should be graduated and monitored through out the course. In the UK graduated assesment is coming in but this is replacing coursework not exams ( some ages and subjects)

youcancallmejess- don't know how coursework goes were your from but her it isnt about half. it varies from subject to subject, also some subjects don't have any coursework.

And still people can cheat in coursework, is that a good thing to use to determine intelgience either?

The graduated assement seems quite a good idea. it like courswork but done in exam type rules with invigilators watching to make sure you don't just copy and past form web sites and text books ect.

I agree with beth.. Exams only want us to memorize the whole textbook and it doesnt matter to them if we have really understood the topics or not

Well its not up to them to care whether you understood or not, thats your responsibility.

You need to take an SAT or an ACT for many and most colleges. (lots of people say the ACT is a more accurate reading of intelligence and easier than the SAT and some people take both) Good legit colleges also require you to have a certain amount of state tests passed but, each state gives out different state exams so I couldn't really tell you which ones you would need.

Exams are a test of your knowledge on how well you know the material and they are probably never going to go away so its best to get used to them and try learning some better test taking skills.

Oh and once you get to college the exams keep coming longer and more difficult, so get used to it.

well exams are necessary but the concept of the students about exams should be changed . they should consider it as a test of their abilities and not fuss about marks . though I know that competition is high students should focus on learning and comprehending the lessons and simply not mugging up the lessons . a fair competition is necessary but the first priority must be given to learning and not simply mugging up for marks . Then only a stuDENT AN SUCCED IN THE REAL COMPETION OF LIFE