Singapore Expats

as someone who came from a low pace ...exams are a great leveller...

Freudian slip... pace ... space...

Exams seem objective but there are also certain biases built in.

Lots of wealthier students can score high on exams due to extensive costly preparation.

Exams are important to provide a consistent medium of assessment on which to judge if the child is sufficiently prepared to promote to the next year. Without them, it is unreasonable to expect the teachers to pick and choose who to promote and who to retain. This is even more so due to the rigor of the Singaporean education system, where teachers are busy juggling many classes with many teachers teaching multiple subjects. How are they to remember every detail about each child’s progress? Although they may be stressful, exams are important to ensure that the child is on track. If he is, great. Otherwise, the teacher will know that he needs to be given more help and attention.

yes Lisa, it's a kind of a leveller ....that's why I support exams... often rich/secure pupils crack up in exams...that's the point isn't it...?