I would gladly wager my ang pao money this year that everybody who comes to this site and read the articles here have taken some forms of assessment in tests or exams. In ancient China, assessment was mainly a tool to select “capable” individuals to serve in the imperial court. Today, assessment comes in all shapes and sizes, or in physics terms, all wavelengths and frequencies. (just kidding).

In the academic world, i.e. the nutty professors, assessment is divided into summative assessment (those end of year examinations and tests) typically used to assigned a grade and formative assessment (assignment worksheets and informal quizzes) usually to help in learning. And Singaporeans are obsessed with the former due to extreme kiasuism, just like Japan, Hong Kong and other fast paced societies.

Today’s rant is on summative assessment, or tests for grades.

Summative assessment mode is important in today’s society. It is how we decide if you can drive, certify us as a trained teacher or as a proof that we have meet some standards required for a position or proficiency level (i.e. swimming or piano). This is how we decide if you go into EM1, EM2 or EM3 classes, if you could get into the school of your choice or get to study the subjects that you wanted to. Even soccer coaches need to be certified by FIFA/UEFA before they can manage a team in the English Premier League. It sure plays an important role now…

But that’s it. Summative assessment is only a tool in society. It only performs the task it is designed for and nothing else. Scoring distinctions in ‘A’ level music does not make you a Mozart. Alex Ferguson does not have a coaching badge from FIFA/UEFA but he is among the greatest soccer managers in the world who achieved great things. Einstein dropped out of was a slow learner in school and couldn’t find a decent job (unless you consider working in the patent office counts as decent) before his groundbreaking papers. Bill Gates did not have a business degree but he is the world richest fellow. And blah blah blah…

Right after a summative assessment, most of us just throw away what we had gone through. There are University students who would gladly bin their lecture notes right after their exams. There are drivers who break traffic rules right after they passed driving tests. In fact, you get Harvard and MIT graduates who don’t know why is it hotter in summer and colder in winter and how to light a bulb with a battery and wire. See this http://www.hno.harvard.edu/gazette/1997/05.29/VideoRevelation.html

I’m pretty sure they learnt these in class and perhaps even had some exams related to it. They must have scored pretty well in tests and exams to graduate from Harvard and MIT but yet they came out embarrassed in this study conducted a decade ago. Summative assessment is not a gauge on how successful you can be in the future. Getting A’s in mathematics may not even be a necessary condition for you to be a mathematician! Ever heard of Ramanujan? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Srinivasa_Ramanujan

What’s most important in education is not to walk away with straight A’s. It is a place for you to pick up life skills, make friends and learn how to be independent and how to handle stress etc. It is to gain knowledge not to memorize facts. It is to learn how to think and be responsible for yourself. It is more character building than a collection of As.

I’ll say do your best, the rest will be handled by itself and whatever grades you get, there will be no regrets.