Our local schools replaced "exams" with "quarterly assessments".  I've not asked for the official reason but my kids tell me it takes some of the stress off of the idea of an exam.  Silence when I asked why people wouldn't get nervous about a quarterly assessment.

Now a new study suggests that test-taking actually helps us learn:

"'The struggle helps you learn, but it makes you feel like you’re not learning,' said Nate Kornell, a psychologist at Williams College. 'You feel like: ‘I don’t know it that well. This is hard and I’m having trouble coming up with this information.’ '

By contrast, he said, when rereading texts and possibly even drawing diagrams, 'you say: ‘Oh, this is easier. I read this already.’ '"

Thanks, Phi Beta Cons (be sure to read the first comment which makes a great point about teaching to tests and learning)