Since th e foundation of the Republic, the Turkish Education System hasbeen hierarchically structured. The hierarchical steps vary from pre -schooleducation to postgraduate levels. The transition amongst those educationalstages has mostly depended on various kinds of nation -wide exams. Inorder to investigate the effectiveness of those practices and to assess howthose practices have influenced individuals in the recent past, it is necessaryto reach the view points and experiences of individuals from various agegroups and educational backgrounds. This study aims to reveal theeffectiveness of those educational transition practices and their influenceson individuals by means of examining the view points and experiences ofpeople who attended different schooling s tages in the last 50 years. Thisstudy was designed as a q ualitative phenomenological research. Its datawas collected through semi-structured interviews carried out withindividuals from three age groups residing in the provinces of Balıkesir andUşak. The analysis of the data reveals that the participants of this studythink that the administration of the transition between various educationallevels through some nation -wide exams is inevitable, but thoseexaminations a re not authentically assessing students abilities or skills.Besides, the exams have not only been negatively influencing the formaleducational activities in schools but also bringing lots of burdens forstudents and parents. The participants also empha sised on the nec e s sity ofputting new transition systems into practice incorporating various options.