Is UK's exam system best way of assessing?

Article by George Monbiot: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/apr/27/england-exam-system-children-mental-health

Exams distort every aspect of education. It’s not just a matter of “teaching to the test” and drilling pupils in rote learning rather than encouraging deep understanding, independence and creative thought. They also ensure that the curriculum is narrow and compartmentalised, sealing testable knowledge into artificial boxes. This partitioning, coupled with the ridiculously early specialisation of the English education system, ensures that by the time we reach our late teens we can scarcely understand each other, let alone the world into which we emerge.