http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/7985 2026-04-03T20:21:52Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/7986 Title: Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference on Private Higher Education in Africa Authors: Research and Knowledge Management Office (RaKMO) Abstract: Continuous classroom assessment and diverse examination formats are frequently cited as important tools for supporting better educational attainments, especially in terms of fostering active, individual, and deep learning. While perceived as underutilized potential, we require harnessing to maximize learning potential. In spite of the ongoing debate and unimplemented uniformity, classroom continuous assessment and diverse examination formats remain controversial and inconsistent. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine classroom continuous assessment practices and exam composition diversity, their role in educational outcomes, and contributing factors to lower-quality classroom continuous assessments in private higher education in Ethiopia. Through exploratory research design and a stratified random sampling method, 230 students were selected; in addition, 12 faculty members, 18 course outlines, and 11 final exam sheets of regular students with grades of 35–60% were used. Analyses of qualitative and quantitative data were conducted using descriptive statistics and theme analysis. Results show that continuous assessments are present in the majority of academic semesters (ranging from 0.43% to 65.22%), and they are the most popular choice among students. The composition of the final exams also tended to be significant but declined to a conventional multiple-choice, true-false, matching, or less time-consuming exam type or less critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Most students (88.70%) consider continuous assessment models to be better at evaluating their learning progress than traditional summative exams alone. Nevertheless, continuous assessments and diversity in exams interfere with students' abilities to complete their assignments on time, cause the occurrence of exam anxiety and extra workloads; this should be mitigated with effective strategies. By way of enhancing the quality of higher education in Ethiopia, we need to follow up on the practices and promote classroom continuous assessment and innovative, diverse examination formats that have a role in critical thinking, problem- solving skills, active and Deep learning 2024-05-01T00:00:00Z