I'd also be interested in knowing how much they're worth, and what kind of exams they are.
After teaching for 30 years I have become more and more convinced that exams are a very poor indicator of a student's performance, and that they are not indicative of their mastery of the material or their ultimate ability in that field.
In most classes I give a couple of exams a semester and they are typically worth 20% of the final grade, which I consider to be a modest percentage. The exams are mainly about terminology, factual information, etc. I do not attempt to use examinations to evaluate critical thinking, which I do in other reflective writing assignments, or ability, which I di with practical assignments. In some classes, I give no exams as such, but give "take home" midterms and finals, which are geared to critical thinking.
Furthermore, it is a mistake to combine multiple choice and true-false questions with essay questions. This is because students must study differently for essay and fact-based exam content.
You are completely correct that exams do not measure mastery. I think that they do have a role in evaluating basic knowledge, with mastery evaluated in other ways.
No, I don't give exams. My approach is more to push teacher students to learn within peers and by doing researches. So, I assess them by Seminars and mini research about the subjects I teach. I think, specially in my Country - Brazil - where education is too much teacher centered based learning we have to give students the opportunity to try other kinds of assess and evaluation.
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