GCSEs: Report finds many parents and teachers fear exams outdated - 5 alternatives that could take their place

• A new survey shows that parents and teachers still believe in exams, but they have some big concerns
• Some of these are driven by our rapidly-changing technology
• Large groups of both parents and teachers say exams rely too much on memorisation
• Popular alternatives with educators include methods already used by healthcare and art students

Exams are a mainstay of most young peoples’ educational journey, but a new report suggests they might be starting to fall out of favour.

This year’s secondary school summer exam season is currently in full swing. GCSE and A Level assessments both began last month, and will run until June 25 - with several key papers still to go - before candidates face a two-month wait for August’s respective results days.

Exams mark a time of change for students, whether it be the transition to the sixth form, or to life after secondary school. As an opportunity to show off all of their hard work, they can be exciting for many young people. But at the same time, they can be a source of great pressure and stress. Everything they’ve learned over the course of about two years will be put to the test on a single day - and there can be a lot riding on the results.

In the recently-released 2025 edition of its annual Future of Education report, online tutoring platform GoStudent found that both parents and teachers were calling for change. Many believed new ways to assess how well children have mastered different subjects are needed - and may even be more effective than exams.

Here are some of the concerns parents and educators alike have about our current way of putting pupils to the test, as well as a few of the most popular possible alternatives:

What’s the problem with exams?

The report, which surveyed nearly six thousand parents and children and 300 teachers across the UK and Europe, found that broadly speaking, teachers and parents still had faith in exams - with about and 77% of parents and 72% of teachers saying they were effective.

But the research also highlighted some concerns about them as the main way of assessing pupils’ knowledge. It found that about 59% of parents were concerned that grades were no longer an accurate reflection of children's overall abilities, with nearly the same amount (58%) feeling their children were spending too much time memorising information for them - rather than developing critical thinking skills.

Overall, nearly two-thirds (62%) of parents believed new ways to assess children were needed. In part, this was due to the increasing prevalence of AI, with some 16% of students admitting to using it to write essays, and 21% saying they had used it to help pass exams.

For teachers, about two in five (41%) said that exams relied too heavily on memorising facts, while 34% believed they created undue stress. A quarter worried they didn’t measure the right skills (26%), while one in 10 said they only took one skill into account.

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Five alternatives for assessing pupils’ knowledge

FindTutors, a UK-based private tuition service by GoStudent, argues the results show that traditional exams are no longer fit for purpose in today's technology-driven world. Its CEO, Albert Clemente, says there are many alternative assessment methods schools could use to better measure students’ mastery of different subjects.

“Traditional essays and exams have been the cornerstone of education for more than a century, but our research clearly shows that both teachers and parents recognise the need for change,” he said. “In particular, with 35% of teachers stating students cheat by using AI and 26% believing technology has made traditional assessments redundant, we need to rethink how we evaluate learning.”

Here are a few of the alternatives most popular with teachers, in GoStudent’s study:

1. Simulation-based assessments

Supported by nearly three out of four teachers (74%) overall, educators in all of the countries surveyed generally agreed that simulation-based assessment methods were effective. They were also particularly popular with UK teachers, with 84% believing they’d be more effective than exams.

These involve students demonstrating their knowledge by making decisions in simulated real-world scenarios, similar to the approach used in training doctors or nurses.

2. Portfolio assessments

Portfolio assessments were supported by 69% of teachers. These see students build up either a physical or digital collection of their work over time, which is then assessed. This allows a more comprehensive view of their progress rather than measuring performance on a single day - and is already sometimes used for arts subjects.

3. Peer and self-assessment

Just behind it in third place in peer and self-assessment, supported by 67% of teachers. Here, students will evaluate their own work and that of classmates, which educators say can help develop their critical thinking skills, and give them a deeper, more multi-faceted understanding of both the topic and assessment criteria.

4. Learning analytics

Supported by 66% of teachers, learning analytics make use of technology to assess all of a student’s work across one or more digital learning platforms. This can provide valuable insights into their learning patterns and progress - which FindTutors says traditional exams alone can’t capture.

5. AI-based adaptive testing

Supported by 63% of teachers, this is a method of personalised assessment adjusted to individual abilities. It uses an algorithm to tailor the difficulty of test questions to the learner in real time, according to Cambridge Assessment, based on how well they have done on earlier questions in the test. This creates a very accurate measurement of a student’s exact capabilities, FindTutors added.

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