Smaller, more frequent assessments, including formative ones without grades, generate better learning and more valid assessment data than high-stakes tests at the end of a course. Think about restructuring a final exam into smaller subsets of questions, creating a number of mini-exams through the term. Similarly, a large project or paper could be broken up into smaller assignments, starting with a thesis statement or rough abstract, then an outline, then a partial rough draft, and the final product.