Exams v/s Papers

Education has kept me away from this space. I have two papers due tomorrow, so I have been slaving away the past two days trying to write something that is acceptable to me. I really like this system of writing papers. I think it's a better way of guaging a student's understanding than year end exams or standardized tests. This too is an integral part of the western education which is not so prevalent in India. I cannot speak for any other country, though I am fairly sure that more countried fall under the same category as India than as the United States.

Why do I think that papers are better, you ask. Here is the answer- or rather a rumbling of thoughts or hypotheses.
My schooling was traditional and 'success' or 'learning' was based solely on the midterm and year end tests and exams. 1)These tests and exams asked for textbook answers. I find it ludicrous now when I rememer that definitions had to be reproduced in the exact same words as in the text. The teachers did not want to know whether a student had understood or not but rather whether she/he was capable of memorizing some convoluted definition and recalling it. Here if I did that I would be suspended for plagiarism! Coming back to my point; a student could very well have not understood the concept at all but could easily memorize it. 2)A student may have thoroughly understood a concept but may be horrible at memorizing (like me) and so won't produce the 'correct' answers. 3) A student may suffer from fear of exams and the anxiety and fear brings upon a momentary lapse of memory.
These are my top three points. If anyone wants to add to the list, you are more then welcome.

Since I am a student right now, I have a very passionate view on the art of paper writing. Yes it is an art. It is by no means easy. It is everything tests aren't. You cannot write a paper unless you have understood the subject. A student is meant to write what he/she has learnt. Some professors go a step further and give you situations to find solutions to to stretch your thinking. This adds the element of problem solving to this process of learning. You are encouraged to research and look for material outside of the texts.

These are only brief comparisons. The other reason why I believe tests don't work is because I hardly remember anything from school- math, science, history or geography. I was one of those students who understood but was too conformed to show the learning. It saddens me to think that I have wasted ten years, if not fifteen, of my life which I remember nothing from.