Answer to Question #159653 in English for Tee

Question

Online examinations have become a norm in most universities due to the outbreak

of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many would say that online examinations are the best way

to ensure that study opportunities for students are not disrupted and others may say

that they are unfair because they enable students to produce work that is not their

own.

Based on the above statement, write an argumentative essay in which you agree or

disagree whether online examinations are the best assessment form during the

pandemic? Your answer should not be more than 500 words.

Answer 1

Covid-19 has caused a lot of inconveniences in the faculty of education globally. As a result, most of the institutions have adopted virtual classes and online exams. Most people view online exams to be convenient whereas others feel that they are not genuine at all.

Personally, I am sceptical about the remote exams and classes. To be specific this is because online exams causes unnecessary stress. In support of this timed exams have created stress, which is not formidable for learning to be effective.

Another reason is because online exams are vulnerable to bandwidth problems. With timed exams, bandwidth and other performance issues posses a challenge to the test-taker. This is because when internet connectivity is poor questions might take some time to load.

Subsequently online exams are poorly correlated with understanding. In addition, timed exams measure a student’s ability to answer questions quickly not understanding. Consequently, there is no correlation between recall speed and understanding.

Online exams are subject to cheating since there is no mechanisms to curb the cheating or supervising the students against any malpractices. Another disadvantage of online exams is that they place undue burden on students who require learning accommodations. This means that learners with identified learning support requirements are receiving extra time on timed exams, if there is such a case it should be carried forwarded to remote learning and exams which is not the case. As a results this denies a good chance to students of this cadre.