How schools are leveraging academic competitions for better learning outcomes

Tests are one of the most reliable ways of assessing a student’s skills and abilities; no wonder they are still relevant today. Apart from the regular tests conducted by teachers in schools, there are academic competitions that help unlock the potential in each student and reward their academic excellence.

Today, most schools worldwide prefer giving their students one or the other type of academic test. These cover various subjects, from English to Math, and require students to utilize their analytical, critical thinking and comprehension skills.

Academic competitions often contain questions that aren’t strictly based on the syllabus, requiring students to think outside the box for the answers. And that is just one of their benefits, amongst others.

And while many students, if not all, dislike taking exams, they look forward to taking academic tests because of the nature of the questions that make them exciting and intellectually rewarding.

Apart from the students, schools are taking maximum advantage of these competitions for better learning outcomes or helping students know what they have learned after a particular examination. But how are they doing this? Continue reading to find out.

Helps students recognize their strengths

When students take an academic exam, they have to deal with various questions. They might find some easier than others. For example, one student might breeze through the math questions, while another might face difficulty comprehending a particular passage.

In doing so, students recognize their strengths and skills that they might use to build a career for themselves. Standard school tests fail to deliver on this front because they contain syllabus-based questions whose solutions usually require a straightforward approach.

Narrows the gap between teachers and students

Teachers have limited ways of knowing the strengths and weaknesses of their students. Academic competitions help teachers identify the areas of weakness and challenges a student faces. Using that, they could adopt a new approach towards a particular subject or devote increased time or resources to it. That will help the student improve in the long run.

It teaches them time management

Not all students can manage their time efficiently. Plenty of students need help organizing their time while sitting for regular tests conducted by the schools.

However, taking part in academic competitions such as icasassessments.com or other similar examinations helps students appreciate the practice of time management since they have strict start and stop timings. Students must complete the given set of questions within the specified time.

Further, since the tests involve a considerable amount of critical thinking, logical application, comprehension skills etc., it increases their efficiency in completing answers in a shorter time than usual after appearing for them repeatedly.

Separate the right and wrong answers

School-held tests don’t usually give students a list of the correct answers against the incorrect ones. Since they have no way of knowing the right answers, it becomes difficult for them to understand and analyze their mistakes.

In contrast, academic exams provide students with a list containing the correct answers besides the ones they attempted. Once they find the reason for separating a correct answer from a wrong one, they become confident and less prone to committing the same mistakes next time. It’s an efficient way of self-learning.

Schools are taking maximum advantage of academic competitions to identify a student’s skills, abilities and knowledge in a particular subject. These exams are helpful both to the teachers and the students, contributing to a higher standard of learning.