> the test is not perfect at discriminating those who understand from those who mimick impressively well.
They discriminate all the time, just in the wrong direction. There are a lot of exams which are written in a way which counts on this mimicking, but in a way which makes tests way more difficult even if you understand the topic. It’s the same problem with remote learning: it’s way easier to cheat on them. In the past 3 years, (except the first semester when COVID broke out) remote exams were way more difficult than before to mitigate this. I had tests which were clearly made this cheating in mind. It was borderline impossible without cheating, they counted on it. At that point, I have no idea why they still tried to enforce any such rules.
And still, I know many teachers who clearly don’t understand their topic completely, they just “mimic” it.
They discriminate all the time, just in the wrong direction. There are a lot of exams which are written in a way which counts on this mimicking, but in a way which makes tests way more difficult even if you understand the topic. It’s the same problem with remote learning: it’s way easier to cheat on them. In the past 3 years, (except the first semester when COVID broke out) remote exams were way more difficult than before to mitigate this. I had tests which were clearly made this cheating in mind. It was borderline impossible without cheating, they counted on it. At that point, I have no idea why they still tried to enforce any such rules.
And still, I know many teachers who clearly don’t understand their topic completely, they just “mimic” it.