If you teach long enough, you start to think that students are only after an extra point on an exam, and not trying to learn from what you are trying to teach them, particularly the broader learning experiences that students should be having in genuinely evaluating their own performance, and engaging in self-critical evaluations that will make themselves better.

Certainly, grades are important. Because grades are, the tangible outcome of an evaluation of a student’s performance in a class. However, most students never realize that exams are part of their own learning experience in school. Most students see exams only as proof to the class instructor that they have mastered the material. Any exam you take is far from that. Surely, evaluation of your knowledge is part of the reason instructors give exams. However, the other reason instructors give exams is to ensure that you are doing your best at digesting the material and thinking deeply about it, regardless of the specifics asked on the exam.

What most students also miss is the deep structure that exams should play in their own learning experience. The other major goal of any exam is to hone your abilities to craft intellectually rich, complete, subtle and succinct arguments in response to issues posed to you.

Otherwise, you need to evaluate and critically analyze what was deficient in your answers, so that you will be able to craft better more complete and more to the point arguments in the future.

Definitely, you can learn mightily from your performance on exams, if you will spend the time to understand where you went off track, relative to what the question asks. This is where you hone the skills to craft effective and nuanced arguments that will serve you for the rest of your life.