Exams

It's that time of year again. The time when you're tested on every single piece of knowledge you have acquired this year.

Seriously, exams don't make any sense to me. 
The first thing that gets me about exams is that they aren't testing how much knowledge you have retained, they are testing your ability to memorize information. 
Let's be honest here, you remember some things taught to you in class but how you end up getting the grade is studying your butt off for the 2 weeks before exams cramming information into your head. The sad part about this is, most students end up forgetting all that information as soon as they walk out the school doors for summer vacation. 

I think that a solution to this is having more frequent and smaller quizes/tests. With more and smaller tests, each test will be weighted less which means if you mess up on a test, it won't be detrimental to your mark.

Something else that bothers me about exams is the weighting of it. A final exam is worth 25-30% of your overall mark.I don't understand why that makes any sort of sense to anyone. 

What an alternative to exams you ask? The answer to that is summatives. Yes, summatives are nearly just as hated as exams but what I have in mind is a little different. I think that summatives should be very student directed. Within a set of guidelines students can create their own project in a way that displays their strengths. Students will be able to show their creativity and also be able to do something they are interested in!

I think that the Canadian government should bring back exam exemptions. Why, you ask? Because it motivates students to do better in class so that they don't have to write exams because EVERYONE HATES EXAMS.

All in all, I don't like exams, you don't like exams and I think more small quizes would be better