Practical Advice for Your Student - Part 3 - Test Taking

In spite of the grade controversies you might see on Twitter, tests are an important part of learning.  It is important for a teacher to know if students have knowledge or can perform a skill on their own without teacher support.  They also provide an opportunity for retrieval practice, and important part of solidying memories.  

That's not to say they cannot be improved.  It would take too long to grade and give feedback for every question to be free response, especially for those teachers who have classes of up to 35 students.  So we are left with things like matching, multiple choice, fill in the blank, etc. for the sake of efficiency.  Much of the test taking advice you see online (like choose C because it is the most common right answer - which isn't even true anymore) are for those who don't have a clue about the right answer.  If you have studied, it is unlikely that you don't know anything at all.  So the advice in this post is for the conscientious student who prepared for the test.

Multiple Choice Questions

When I met with students, I asked them if they were the kind of person who quickly picked an answer and moved on or if the kind who talked themselves into every answer.  For both, I first offer this advice.  Bring a blank index card (you can also use a cover sheet if provided or even your hand) to cover the choices.  Read the question first and think of the answer in your mind.  Then, go look for the right answer.  The only type of question this won't work for are those where "all of the above" is the right answer, but there are usually only 1 or 2 of those on any given test.  For those who tend to talk themselves into the other choices, they don't even have to look at the others (maybe jump down to quickly to make sure "all of the above" isn't a choice).  For those who choose answers quickly, they will at least be more likely to be committing themselves to the right answer.

If, when you thought of then answer, you had some doubts, you can then go to look at the choices.  My next best advice is to cross out those you know to be wrong.  Then, go on to another question.  When you return to the one you had doubts about, you may find that your mind has continued in diffuse mode, allowing you to be confident about one of the answers you have left.

Short Answer Questions

It is easy to write something without really thinking about it.  I can't tell you how many times I have written next to an answer, "Read this out loud.  You'll hear that it doesn't make sense."  That's not me being mean; it's just easy to write without checking to see if it says what you meant.  You obviously can read your answers out loud during a test with other students around.  However, you can do two things.  First, you can do what I call "Reading out loud in your head." What I mean by that is rather than passively taking the words into your eyes, be intentional about "pronouncing" the words in your mind.  I think it is called "self talk," and it helps.  The other thing you can try is to ask the teacher if you can step into the hall and actually read the answer out loud so you can hear it.  I wouldn't do it a lot, but it could help if you are really stuck on a question.

The Order of the Test

Because we number the questions, students assume they must start with question 1 and go in order.  The problem with that is that the most challenging questions are often on the last page.  Because of the benefits of moving from focused node to diffuse mode, the best advice is to start with the hardest ones. Recognize when it is time to pause and go on to some easier questions, so you can return to them after your brain has had time for active recovery.  The other benefits to doing it this way are that you are able to time your pace better when the easier ones are the ones that are left and you don't already have an exhausted brain when your reach the free response section.

An Alternate Form of Testing in the Virtual Learning Environment

My plan for this week had been to write about everything I've learned from two and a half weeks of teaching in a virtual environment.  One of those lessons is just how exhausting the change in lesson planning is, and my brain is too tired to go into all of those lessons today.  I was, however, determined to blog this week because I was too tired to do it last week. 

I was sending an email to my colleagues to update them on an experiment I did with testing.  I figured since I was already having to expend the mental energy to write to them, I could just modify that for this blog. 

The hardest thing to figure out when we were planning for moving our classes online was assessment.  We knew just giving a regular test was a recipe for cheating, so we weren't going to do that.  We brainstormed a lot of ideas and read a few articles on the best practices of those who do actual online classes on a regular basis.  The article I liked best was about something called "Open-Everything Tests."  You assume they are going to have notes and books and the internet open and write your questions with that in mind. 

I knew about FlipGrid from one of our English teachers and decided that would be a good way to have them submit their answers in video form.  I could see them answering, and they couldn't just copy and paste from other people's texts.  I sent them the questions ahead of time so they could prepare and wrote questions that required preparation.  Some questions ask them to film things in their house (a question about transparency).  Others asked them to find or draw a picture to use in their answer.  I want this to be an additional learning opportunity, not just an assessment of their knowledge. 

Here's a modified version of the email I sent my friends.

"This is both a good idea and a bad idea.  Here are some of the pros and cons in case you are considering using this method for yourself.

CON:  I did not take into account just how long it would take to watch the videos.  I had assigned ten questions to every student I have, resulting in over 800 videos, each ranging from 30s to 5min.  It's a good thing I don't have classes this week and actually need things to fill my time.  That won't be the case when the next test comes around.

CON:  You can't really skim a video like you can with writing.  I mean, I kind of have figured out that if I start watching someone who sounds like they know what they are talking about, I can skip to the middle of their answer, hear a little more that confirms they know what they are talking about, and then skip to the end, but it still takes way more time than scanning the same amount of writing.

CON:  A few students in our context are using more limited wifi than others or had a little trouble with their camera. (We don't have the equity issues some others are having because of the program we had in place.)  I gave them permission to submit it in text form by email if they needed to.  That was only a couple, but it is good to keep in mind that a few may need some grace.

PRO:  Using carefully considered questions results in "uncheatable" answers.  The one that said to film things in the house resulted in some real-world application and certainly was not Googleable.  I'm thinking of making that one a homework assignment in future years when school is "normal" again.

PRO:  Students are more creative answering in a video than they are in writing.  They don't typically write out little asides and jokes, but they will definitely make them in the video.  It also allows them to hold up a picture and point at things.  In a question about how musical instruments make sound, I asked students to find a picture, but a few who play instruments just showed it to me live.

PRO:  My extension question is far more delightful to watch (and I already enjoyed reading it).  One student's explanation of the after-effects of eating two thousand M&Ms made me laugh so hard, I nearly fell out of the chair.

For our next test, I will reduce the number of questions submitted this way and find some other way to assess the rest.  I'm thinking of a Kahoot based one for multiple-choice questions.  You can set the time longer than 30s, so it could be done without the pressure (and if you have the educator version, it sends a report with the percentage they got right).  Friday's experiment with one class showed that I probably cannot use that in the live-group format, but I think I would still get the report if I did the "Assign as homework" option.  I have a while to think about it, though."

Is This Test Hard?

Teachers live for questions.  We love them.  They are the number one sign of student engagement.  Our love for questions has even led to the patently ridiculous aphorism, "There are no stupid questions."  That's not true.  There are A LOT of stupid questions.  This post is about one of them.

"Is this test hard?"

I haven't kept a record of every question I have ever been asked; but if I had to guess, this is probably the question I have been asked more times than any other.  If not, it is certainly in the top three (along with, "May I go to the bathroom?" and "Can we get extra credit points for . . .?")  Here's the answer to that question.

I don't know.

I really don't know.  I have a science degree, and I have taught this material for 17 years, and I wrote the questions.  The test isn't hard FOR ME.  I have no way of knowing if it will be hard for you.  The follow up question is the usually, "Has it been hard for past students?"  The answer to that isn't any more satisfying; the answer is "For some of them."  Some of them paid attention while others did not.  Some have taken good notes while others have note.  Some have studied well while others have not.  Some have come to me for extra help while others have not.  Some are good at analysis while others have not yet built that skill.  This means that the test was hard for some people, but it was not for others.

Every test is hard for some people, but it is rarely because the test questions are written to be difficult.  In fact, I am often surprised at which questions are frequently missed.  The question I thought was easy and told students would be on the test is often the one answered incorrectly by the most students.      Apparently, telling students a question will definitely be on the test is a sure we to prevent them from studying that question.  I can't pretend to understand that, but students have been leaving, "List the two parts of the kinetic theory of matter" blank for a lot of years in spite of all my efforts.  Some students read only the first part of questions and jump straight to a memorized answer, which means questions with nuances will be wrong.  For math problems in science, I require a certain format; but it sometimes takes two or three tests before students believe that I will take points off if they don't follow it.  Sometimes I get very short answers to questions that require complex reasoning.  For example, when I ask students to describe why people float better in the dead sea than in a pool, I sometimes get answers like, "Cuz of the salt."  When I asked students to describe in detail the process of breathing using Boyle's Law, some of them answer, "First you inhale; then you exhale."  These answers are clearly worth five points each.  The most frequent incorrect answer to an all of the above question is "a," reflecting that these students didn't read the other choices.  All of these result in points lost, but none of them reflect that the test is hard.

Teachers write questions using something called Bloom's Taxonomy of thinking levels (see the above diagram).  Everyone knows how to prepare for the remembering level by using flashcards or repetition, and by middle school, most of my students have become pretty good at preparing for the understanding level if the teacher has told them it will be a question on the test.  Application and Analysis level questions require a different kind of preparation, and it can't be found in the book.  When I ask these types of questions, no matter how simple, that test is considered "a hard test."  If you are wondering about the top two levels, they require more processing time than a timed test would usually allow.  Evaluation tends to be done in debates or essays, and creation is usually achieved with projects.

Lack of preparation makes tests hard.  Students, next time you study for a test, try to identify what level of thinking is required.  If something requires an explanation, recognize that flashcards alone won't get you there.  If several pieces of material can connect, be prepared for analytical questions that relate those.  Proper preparation will make you walk into a test prepared and walk out believing it wasn't a hard test.