Exams

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. Evaluations that assess students' grasp of course material and knowledge proficiency throughout a term
2. Structured tests aimed at determining students' competence in specific subjects or areas of study at designated intervals
3. Formal assessments designed to measure learners' understanding and skill in various educational subjects

Etymology: "Exams" is the plural of "exam", so its history is really the history of that shorter word. "Exam" is a clipping of "examination", which came into English from Latin "examinare", meaning to weigh or test, a word connected to "examen", the tongue of a balance scale that shows whether two pans are level. The image is literal: an examination originally meant checking whether something balanced, and only later came to mean putting a person's knowledge to the test. "Exam" itself is a later, informal shortening of that longer word, the sort of clipping English speakers have long used for everyday talk. Its plural follows the regular pattern: one exam, several exams. Students mostly use it for the formal tests that close a course of study, which is why the plural is so common in school life.

Synonyms: examinations, tests