High stakes assessment e.g. A-levels or American University entry, are a stressful time and can be eliteist in terms of only preferring those from a better educational background. America has tried to overcome this by admitting a top percentage from each school, but this is still not a fair system. Motivation in simple terms, can be extrinsic or intrinsic with extrinsic rewards, such as good grades and university entrance motivation for learning. Some drugs for alzheimers are being used to enhance brain function for learning and performance in high stakes assessments. This also leads to those with money being able to be at an advantage. Competing views of high stakes assessment and motivation need to be shown. Also an understanding of the significance and limitations of relevant educational research need to be shown. High stakes assessment most likely is a good motivator for summative assessments rather than a good motivator for learning.