Should students be judged on marks alone?

A debate has been going on for quite some time now about the advisability of having a system of determining the performance of a student on the basis of an examination conducted at the end of the academic year. One school of thought is that the system ensures a uniform benchmark for assessing performance, while another says that judging a student solely on the basis of marks she scores at one examination is not very fair. Proponents of the second school of thought contend a student might be good at cultural activities, but may not perform well at the exams due to poor memory, and so he should not be termed a failure. Some boards have initiated measures like giving grades instead of marks at the exams, allowing greater weightage for extra-curricular activities like sports, giving the option to students of taking the “home” examination rather than the board exam, and so on. How effective do you think these measures will be? Can there be a system in which academic excellence and other skills/talents are given proportionate weightage and assessment made accordingly? Do write to us here with your comments and suggestions.