An examination reflects how well you have understood the material of a particular course. This is the obvious purpose of exams.

Now listen to part of a lecture on the topic you just read about.
Professor
We have known the advantages of examinations. However, examinations also have many disadvantages. Many people think that an examination is the only means to measure knowledge, but, in fact, that is not true. A few questions given in an examination could by no means cover the whole field or scope of the subject. Thus, those who are able to answer them may be the poorest of the students and yet happen to know just a few points about that subject. And so they are entitled to be called successful students.
    Because of the existence of examinations, students pay so much attention to gain high marks that they often forget the chief purpose of education. The so-called clever students devote themselves to the study of textbooks only. They, of course, know nothing but the skeleton of knowledge. The end of education, however, is to enable students to learn how to live. To do this, the student must avail themselves of all kinds of training, physical as well as mental. The examination system has discouraged students from making such an attempt.
    Moreover, since students try so hard to commit their lessons to memory in as short a time as possible, psychologically, they soon forget the whole subject as soon as the examination is over. Surely this is one of the greatest wastes ever made in the history of civilization.
    The worst of all, in order to get high marks, there is a great temptation for students to cheat in examinations. They cheat their teachers, their parents and also themselves. Such a tendency would impair our moral standards.
Question:
Summarize the points made in the lecture you just heard. Explain the distinction between the points in the lecture and the points in the reading passage.