I feel like anyone who writes an article about how examinations aren't a good assessment of a student's intellect always start with: "I'm such a bad test taker..."

Ya, no.

I'm a great test taker. Even if I do not study, I do not get anxious before a test, I do not feel like throwing up. I am completely calm and confident and I go in thinking I shall ace the test and then I do.

Yup, you heard right. Tests are great. I always do good on them because, and if you know me you will know this to be true, I can bullshit my way out of practically anything. It's so satisfying doing something really well because then, you start thinking that you are good at that.

And I did think that. As I aced subjects in high school, I thought I was great at them, so good in fact that I did not need to study. Most of the time, funnily enough, the lesser I studied, the higher score I got. And what would any self-respecting person do then? Yes, you guessed right. I stopped studying hard and I convinced myself that it was because of my inane talent in the subject that I continued to get high marks.

Does that mean that you are reading an article written by a genius? Definitely not. I do not remember anything I have studied and I probably will continue to forget what I have learnt the moment I come out of the examination hall.

I have never actually absorbed the material thoroughly. The moment I am done with my exam, I completely forget anything I have ever learnt about that subject and I move on to the next subject. Rinse and repeat.

That does not sound like a good method for judging a student's capacity to learn; it mostly looks like it judges a student's capacity to memorize and then release onto the exam paper. Memorization is not knowledge and if students cannot apply the material learned, what good it it? Simply put, exams are not true indicators of one's intelligence and often times, limit students ability to actually comprehend the material rather than to just memorize it.

A test, by definition, is intended to measure and assess student's knowledge on a specific subject. They are simply taken by students regurgitating facts they spent hours memorizing but not actually absorbing any of the concepts or understanding what they actually mean. Not only that, but exams don't allow for any creativity or profound responses. Many times questions are looking for a single correct answer rather than a different outlook or idea on a certain concept. This causes students to only focus on specific exam questions rather than the topic as whole.

Studies have found that in today's society, students believe that good grades are more important than a firm understanding of the material. And yes, I am not ashamed to say that I feel this way too. Only last week, I was thinking of changing my major to something mathematics related so I could get those A's, because as much as people say you cannot memorize mathematics, I've been doing it for years and it hasn't let me down yet.

The problem with this is the testing itself. Testing has shown to hinder creativity and original thinking, create stress among students and teachers, and fails to consider the growth/ improvement of the student as a whole.

Not to mention, it takes the fun out of learning something new. If I had to learn astrophysics for fun, sign me up! But why haven't I taken a single astrophysics class at college? Because having tests on it, no thank you. When you take away the stressful testing and the constant peer competition and the horrible self esteem issues that occur due to exams, you are left with the actual knowledge of the subject.

Yes, I get why testing is important. It makes sure that a student has learnt something, but most of the time, that student will learn even more if they did not feel the need to prove themselves constantly.

We lose too many talented and intelligent people by defining intelligence through tests that are wholly inadequate and constricting. We need to look wider and encourage the entrepreneur, the inquisitive, the creative, and the downright cussed in our schools to make the most of who we are and to bring out the richness and diversity of thought and ideas in our society.