What are the purposes of exams? Would teachers give exams if they were not grading students? Exams provide information that should inform the instructional program, let the students know their strengths as well as areas for growth, and tell teachers what information their students know and what they still need to know. When determining how students will be assessed, it was advised in the literature that the following questions be asked: (1) What is being assessed?; (2) Why is the information being assessed?; (3) Why are the students being assessed?; and (4) How will the results be used? Once these queries have been answered, the type of test/exam and its questions should be designed, reviewed and revised. The most common tests are objective, primarily because they are easier to grade than essays. Exam design is more challenging than it might initially appear. Some considerations: (1) include several different types of items; (2) insure that all objectives have been included and are reliable; (3) use language that all students can understand; (4) keep track of the levels of questions so that higher as well as medium and lower levels are included; (5) type it and make certain it is error free; and (6) provide ample space to write answers.