Ielts writing task 2

Question: Children have more and more tests and exams to do at school, sometimes starting from the age of five or six, right up until the age of 18. What are the advantages and disadvantages of making children do exams?

Answer:

It is true to say that studying is part and parcel of everyone’s life. Therefore, the examination has an important role to play in attempting to improve educational outcomes. However, many people hold the view that the number of tests that youngsters from 5 or 6 up to 18 years old have to do at school is increasing rapidly, which is estimated to bring both benefits and drawbacks to them. Thus, in this essay, I will explore the pros and cons of taking exams at school and try to draw some conclusions.

On the one hand, one of the major plus points of having exams at school is that it helps children pay more attention to their study and consequently, their results can be enhanced significantly. For many students, they hardly see any benefits and interest in studying, so they do not see any importance in doing exercises after school. We can easily imagine a hive of serious consequences to these immature students unless there is such an education system as examination. Generally speaking, if children are not put under heavy pressure of being tested at school and if they have no concern about their marks or their parents’ disappointments, they may never completely concentrate on lessons at school. Secondly, students usually spend hours on end cram for a forthcoming exam, therefore, they have a valuable chance to review what they have studied. Besides, students themselves can also estimate their real abilities and see which parts they need to improve through the incorrect answers and the teachers’ comments. Apparently, there is no doubt that their study results can be more and more positive.

On the other hand, taking too many tests and exams also has major drawbacks as it badly affects children’s mental health and even their productivity in studying. It is reported that children from their childhood have to deal with numerous exams at school. They even do not have enough time to sleep or eat properly, let alone go outside to play with their friends due to the fact that they have to prepare for their tests. Children, therefore, lost their invaluable childhood and in some more serious cases, they become ill and stressed as a result of anxiety about taking exams at school. Moreover, there is no guarantee that exams can improve the actual knowledge of any children. There is no denying that one children get a maximum mark in exam they quickly forget that piece of knowledge after being tested, or maybe that knowledge has no relevance to their real world and it is useless.

In conclusion, the examination itself has a good purpose but the way we approach it today can cause both advantages and disadvantages to our children. In spite of the fact that it removes students’ distraction in study and enhances study results, it also causes considerable illness in mental health and sometimes it is not a useful aspect in real life. Personally, I think it is best to sufficiently limit the frequency of exams so that children can maximize the benefits of examination at school.