Should we have exams?

Exams are given to test students on what they have learned during the course of the semester. Some people may argue is a test of knowledge, one's abilities, and how much they have learned. Others may argue exams are just studying for a test, then forgetting the material right after.

Exams can provide students with qualities they may need later on in life, for example, hard work, patience, and independent work. The results tell us what we know, or what we may need to work on in the future to know and understand the content better. They can motivate students to learn by reaching for their goal: a good grade, or perhaps for their future careers and personal goals. However, they can also judge how capable a student is of learning the material. They may also promote competition in classrooms. However, don't teachers tell us a classroom is not for competition? One can argue it is a competition for grades, and another argues it helps to reach your own self goals.

Exams can also be a measure of how good our memorizing skills are. Some may say it measures knowledge, where teachers mark you based on what a text book says. There are many more ways of learning than just remote memorization, other ways to accumulating and retaining information. They may also create stress for a student, with hours and hours of review questions and memorizing information for the test.

Although exams are used now, do you think exams are good, or they should be taken away?