I think this is one of the reasons why a lot of students prefer assessment models that reward 'effort over time' - taking 5 tests over 15 weeks helps reduce t

I think this is one of the reasons why a lot of students prefer assessment models that reward 'effort over time' - taking 5 tests over 15 weeks helps reduce the downside of doing badly on a single exam/homework/etc. (Which is not to say that all students prefer this approach, but for those that do prefer it this is a common reason) Of course, this then leads us back to the problem of assessing people early on in the term before they've had a chance to build up some momentum in their knowledge & learning. But yeah - there's this sea-saw balancing act between a small number of higher-stakes assessment vs. spreading the assessment out & assessing earlier as well as later when designing assessments in formal education.