#will this be on the exam?

Six little words that are designed to exasperate the average academic:

"Will this be on the exam?"

These six words betray so many competing and conflicting ideas in Higher Education.

• Is Higher Education just about passing exams and assessments?
• Does the love of a subject and immersion in its literature mean nothing to students?
• Do lecturers provide lectures, tutorials, and on-line support simply to justify their jobs?
• Is the phrase "reading for a degree" only meaningful on the BBC's University Challenge?
• Do students think that the exchange of money is their only contribution to their education?

And, readers of my blog have long known that exams, as an assessment tool, need to be questioned in today's educational environment.

"Will exams be on the exam?"

• Can exams test the ability to apply knowledge to real scenarios?
• Do exams do any more than test speed writing and memory?
• Is it acceptable for students to be able to accurately guess the exam questions by reference to past papers by the same academic?
• Will I ever need to write an exam essay again in my life?
• Can academics accurately mark large numbers of hurriedly scrawled exam scripts in a tight timescale?
• Can Universities ever find the resource to provide meaningful individual feedback on exam performances?

So, let's examine the whole idea of exams and consider other forms of assessment that are timely, efficient and meaningful to the learning goals of the subject.