Off My Chest
RULES:
I am looking for mods!
1. The "good" part of our community means we are pro-empathy and anti-harassment. However, we don't intend to make this a "safe space" where everyone has to be a saint. Sh*t happens, and life is messy. That's why we get things off our chests.
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That's not without its flaws. A lot of students who understand the material very well are also bad test-takers.
Yeah, it's probably the best solution we have at the moment. Still, I think it's important to acknowledge the flaws so we can collectively think of solutions for them.
There isn't a straightforward answer to this. You're going to see a lot of disagreement on the purpose of a degree. Some argue that it's a testament to your proficiency in that area. Some say it should reflect your ability to hold a job related to that degree. There are probably others I'm not thinking of. Test-taking abilities are a decent proxy for these objectives, but it doesn't perfectly reflect either.
one of the most valuable lessons i got at hyper expensive private school for high school was that in y11 and 12 (last 2 years for australia) was how to take a test
taking tests is a learned skill, and if everyone learns to do it that problem somewhat goes away
there’s always problems, but everyone benefited substantially from the proper training
This is the common but wrong way to look at testing.
Testing is used to evaluate students' understanding of the material. They are meant to be assessments to help the teacher figure out where their students are excelling or failing to understand & rework lesson plans accordingly.
So the fact you spent a bunch of time 'learning' to take tests means your educators likely either didn't know what the hell they were doing or learned how to teach 30+ years ago.
Imo the suggestion that testing as some great equalizer is not correct.