Mock exams are not a tenable method of assessment in the age of AI and digitalisation. As an educator in multilingual education and AI-assisted pedagogy, I am challenging the memorisation paradigm that has dominated our classrooms for too long. Mock exams belong to a different era, rooted in the standardisation and industrial paradigm that treated education like assembly-line production. Here is why I reject them, and what I do instead.
Why mock exams fail
Mock exams promote rote cramming and turn students into prisoners of repetition. They kill cognitive dynamism and ignore how multilingual skills, such as contextual fluency and cultural adaptation, demand real-world application rather than one-shot tests from an outdated industrial model.
My approach: progressive mastery, in class and remotely
I favour continuous activities and mini-projects that build competencies situationally. Students apply their multilingual skills through collaborative tasks, simulations and AI-enhanced workflows, developing a deep, layered understanding along the way.
The innovation: NotebookLM audio guides
Today I used NotebookLM to create an audio overview of the final exam structure: an elaborate narrative linking each question to the full network of lectures. Students engage multisensorially, listening, associating content (the module on multilingual practices and ethics, for example) and reflecting. This immersive preparation boosts retention without a single mock exam.
In the AI era of multilingual education, tools like these augment cognition, reduce anxiety and spark motivation. Yet existing structures and policies, especially those plagued by micro-management and control-mania, do not let such illuminating methods be nurtured and implemented.
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