Exams as skill testing methods have been around since the the time of the Mayans. A young boy would be taught hunting skills and then sent off to hunt using the skills he learned. If he came back with the animal he had killed, he was accepted as a man. Exams in schools are meant to help improve the learning system by identifying what students have learned and for a student to know how he is performing. However, nowadays exams have simply become a memory test to check if you are able to repeat what the teacher has told you and to prove that you have listened and remember what you were told. Do you think today's students study for knowledge? I don't think so. Do they do it for their future? Probably. How about for their parents sake? Yes! Many students study hard just to make their parents proud. To sum it up, exams do not stand for what they used to. They do not even improve the learning system. A student will study a day before the exam and easily get an A+ and right after the test he will simply try to forget everything he has memorized, or what we call in Saudi Arabia “formatting the mind” so he can focus on the next exam. Exams are no longer about gaining knowledge, and as Muslims, we should have a much better and more advanced educational system that obeys the commands of the Holy Qur'an when it comes to reading more and being a country that respects knowledge and obtains it in every way. It might be better not to announce when exams will be held so that students have to study every day in order to be ready for any pop quiz that might? ?occur. Another solution might be to have a larger percentage of grades based on assignments and homework rather than having exams account for 90 percent of the grades. As for me, I recommend that we take a look at the examination systems used by other countries of the world. Aban Al Waznah Jeddah
