Modern Examinations
In the schools of ancient times, the most important examinations were
spoken. Usually the students were supposed to say poetry aloud or give [1] ______
(1) ______ or discuss questions. Although the concrete forms of exami-
nations were various, they were alike in their essence, that is, they were
spoken, which partly remains till today.
However, modern examinations take a different form ---a written [2] ______
form, which was developed in the 19th century due to the increase in (2)
______ and the development of modern industry. But in the process of [3] ______
examination, teachers and students are supposed to act like (3) ______
but not human. [4] ______
Commonly there are two types of tests used in modern schools, they [5] ______
are called "objective" test and "subjective" test respectively. With the
former one concentrated on the (4) ______ of facts while the latter one
on personal (5) ______, the two are different in many ways. Of course [6] ______
they both have advantages and disadvantages. So far as the "objective" test [7] ______
is concerned, it is fair, above all, and then it is very efficient because its [8] ______
form of answer is simple and objective, and it is easy to be (6) ______
But as this way of testing sometimes depends too much on "(7) ______ ’,
it is ultimately not very satisfactory. As for the "subjective" test, it u- [9] ______
sually refers to "(8) ______ tests, which, comparatively speaking,
contains less element of luck and thus can better reflect the students’ abili-
ty of putting facts together into a meaningful whole. However, because this [10] ______
form of testing requires students to write long answers, the students’ ability
of (9) ______ becomes a disturbing factor. Besides, the examiners ’
feelings are different, that is to say, they are subjective when scoring
students’ answers. Therefore, the "subjective" test is not so fair as the
"objective" one.
From the above, we know that whatever kinds of tests we take, it
would be (10) ______, and problems would arise. However, if we
combine these two types together, we would get a clearer picture of
students’ ability through testing.