Preparations for tests should ideally begin much earlier than shortly before the actual test taking period. Indeed, many students perform dismally in their tests because of their failure to understand this and many other principles of test and exam preparation. In addition to discussing how students should prepare for tests, this text will also identify the various strategies which should be embraced by students during test taking in an attempt to enhance performance.
According to Patrick O'Malley's "More Testing, More Learning", the problem is that professors normally give less frequent exams that are counted the most against a student's grade. One of the effects he mentioned was that less frequent exams causes unnecessary amounts of stress on the student. Another one of the effects is that they don't encourage frequent study as well as fails to inspire students' best performance. O'Malley suggests that professors should give more frequent short exams to students. However, there are some objections to this suggestion. One is that such exams take up too much limited class time available to cover material in the course. Another objection is that short exams take too much time for professors to read and
The last theme I found presented in these sources is measurement of student success. Source number one, “Are Exams Bad for Children?”, explains that we can find better ways to measure a student’s learning abilities. Stephanie Schneider says, “More reliable methods of assessment can provide meaningful information that assist student learning, rather than a test that often serves as a punitive device” (30). The
Many other factors are taking place during the test, many students suffer from a high amount of anxiety on the test day. Which prevents them from using primary thinking skills.
The current student spends a lot of time taking tests. A recent study suggests that “Starting in third grade, the typical U.S. student spends 20 to 25 hours each school year sitting for tests” (Dispatch) Of those twenty to twenty-five
However, the biggest cause of the current backlog is still the inefficient scheduling: only 8 slots per day, each slot for a full hour when the average exam takes
Such pressure on students does not help them to become quick learners, or more adaptable, but instead it makes them confront the feeling of failure, which is uncalled for. Since the tests are also sought as a measure of a teacher’s performance, they also stress out teachers, even though the scores students get change based on what test they are taking which makes it difficult to judge a teacher. Standardized tests are also known to give younger students tons on stress in the form anxiety which can affect the brightest of students in such a strong manner that the Stanford-9 Exam has instructions on what to do if the student vomits on their test booklet. This clearly isn’t a sign that students enjoy and/or appreciate the
The results from this where significant in that all students during their baseline evaluation, it was below an expected level, however it was quite clear that during this process there was a big improvement , their report cards show a vast improvement with scores varying from D to C, D to B and B to A,
For instance, Monday and Tuesday will be allocated to 7th graders for reading and writing portions of the test while Wednesday and Thursday is assigned to 8th graders taking the same subjects, those days do not include math, or science benchmark tests. Also, on these days, school officials strive to maintain a quiet place with minimal interruptions for testing students. This means that students who are not testing take different routes to their classes, once they are in class, normal instruction does not take place, rather the focus is on sustaining a quiet place so as not to disturb students who are testing in other areas of the school. Although this may not seem like a serious loss of time, it is important to keep in mind that this routine can take up to a two-week timespan. That is a sizable gap of time without formal instruction which could prove to further place a strain on already struggling
There seems to be a disengagement with students when they need to study course content that requires a deeper understanding. In the article entitled “The Six Hour D” it was stated that a student can spend hours studying, but still do poorly on a test. Why? Because they are using the wrong method to review the material.
Pressure from testing is brought upon in many ways and can be detrimental. All year teachers tell students that content could potentially be on the test. They take practice tests and mock
The ties normally sell for $22 each. Strangle Company has received a special order for 2,000 ties at $10.00 per tie. Strangle Company has excess capacity.
The more time spent on something the better you are. This is the strategy that is being employed in the education system to improve test scores. The latest education reform aimed at closing the gap of test performance has been extended learning time. This reform limits students’ time outside of the classroom and maintains a focus on test preparation. This approach has not been proven to be 100% effective. 42 studies showed no positive impact from year-round school. Every student learns differently, thus the approach should be different for every student.
Welner hits the nail on the head when he states, “The simple truth is that children learn when they have opportunities to learn. When those opportunities are rich, engaging and supported, students learn much more that when those opportunities are narrow, constrained and focused on dry, unengaging test preparation.” What all of those adjectives boil down to mean are exactly how I feel about testing students. I would enjoy learning so much more if my learning wasn’t planned to the last
When students think about tests, their thoughts tend to move more towards the idea of “how am I going to memorize all of this in one week,” I know this from experience. Why is this the way that students treat such “important” tests? I ask myself that question just about every time I think about taking an end of course test, SAT, ACT, or anything like that. All across the nation, students have also been introduced to a thing called common core, which has, for some reason, been made even more difficult than the previous set standards. This seems to be no solution to the problem, but will more than likely only worsen the ditch that we have gotten ourselves into, in terms of education. Before focusing on making school more challenging for students and teachers, would not it make more sense for the problem of students not actually learning the content of the course to be fixed first? With more challenging tests, comes more confused students who are willing to do anything just to pass; including flushing their education down the toilet. They do this by only storing the information in their short-term memory rather than actually learning the content of the class, but it’s not always their faults, either. The way the school system is set up, students are not taught how to actually learn the material or use it in real life. A student’s only goal is making good grades on the tests and surviving the class. This memorizing business can hurt students later on in life, as well. These kids get used to taking the easy way out, and will never learn the “deeper-thinking skills” that they need to succeed in the world today. “The focus on memorization, fueled by standardized testing, has obstructed learning, according to Linda Darling-Hammond of Stanford University, who argues that students have been losing or squandering most of the information they acquire in school.” (Towler.) Even a