Definition of High-Stakes Exams

High-stakes exams are assessments that carry significant consequences for students, educators, and educational institutions. These exams are pivotal in making critical decisions such as student promotion, graduation eligibility, college admissions, teacher evaluations, and school funding allocations. They serve as benchmarks for academic achievement and are utilized to measure the effectiveness of educational systems, aiming to validate individual merit through objective, standardized assessments.

For example, the Gaokao in China is a national college entrance examination that determines students’ access to higher education institutions. Performance on this exam significantly influences students’ future educational and career opportunities, emphasizing the role of high-stakes exams in recognizing individual merit based on measurable outcomes.

Understanding the definition of high-stakes exams lays the foundation for exploring their historical origins and how they have been used to assess merit throughout history.