Who invented exams and when did the first exam start?

There's no single inventor of exams, and pinning down the very first exam is impossible. The concept of testing knowledge and skills has existed for millennia, evolving gradually over time.

However, we can trace some key historical developments:

* Ancient China (around 2200 BCE): Early forms of civil service examinations were used in China to select officials based on merit. These weren't exactly like modern exams, but they involved assessing knowledge of Confucian classics and administrative skills. These are some of the earliest known systematic attempts at standardized testing.

* Imperial China (606 CE): The Sui Dynasty formalized the imperial examination system, which profoundly influenced later systems globally. This system involved multiple stages of testing and had significant implications for social mobility.

So, there wasn't a single "first exam" with a specific date and inventor. Instead, the concept developed gradually, starting with rudimentary assessments of skills and knowledge in various ancient societies and culminating in more formalized examination systems in ancient China. The Chinese imperial examination system is generally considered a significant milestone in the history of examinations.