The studying process is unthinkable without exams. Some people believe that exams encourage students to study harder while others claim that exams hardly influence pupils’ attitude towards studies.
From my point of view, exams do not motivate students to study harder due to several reasons. Firstly, many students have never experienced failing the exam before, so they may overestimate their abilities. Secondly, some pupils are reluctant to engage in studies as they think they will manage to cheat on the exam. Finally, the prospect of exams usually seems so remote that they are not able to make good use of time for preparations.
However, some people think that exams stimulate students to study harder. One of the reasons for this is that students often compete with each other within one class or school. So, they aim to get good results in order to outperform their peers. Moreover, high finals grades give school-leavers an opportunity to apply for a budget form in a prestigious university.
Despite the above arguments, I cannot agree with this point of view. Most teenagers are not mature enough to think about future realistically. Furthermore, they find it hard to put effort when nobody pushes them to study.
Taking everything into account, I would like to say that the role of exams in keeping students motivated is insufficient. I believe that only a personal motivation and a strong will can help students to make progress.