When test time comes around, as teachers, we must find strategies for helping reluctant students prepare for tests. No matter what you teach or how you teach it, assessment is a part of every classroom.
Often (especially as students get older), these assessments take the form of tests, and more often than not, these tests are met with moans, groans, and general discontent among your students.
If tests are necessary (and I would never imply that they aren’t), yet your students are reluctant to take them, the results often differ from what you would hope or what students are capable of.
So, today, let’s discuss strategies for helping reluctant students prepare for tests when test time comes around.
Helping Reluctant Students Prepare for Tests
Suggestion One: Enforcing Prep Work
We all know that studying is no fun. We know that students are busy and have many things on their plates outside school. We also know that effective studying produces confident students who achieve positive results.
With this in mind, it is essential to ensure the groundwork of test prep is laid when helping reluctant students prepare for tests. One way to do this is to make that prep a part of class time instead of expecting students to do it independently.
One way to do this is through games. Many teachers include review games in their plans for the day or two before the test. Another way is giving out study guides or review work to be done and turned in during class time.
What about additional ideas, though? Here are a few less common ways to enforce review and test prep:
- Include review throughout the unit. Make the last couple of questions on every worksheet or use entrance and exit tickets to ask students about material from yesterday’s or the previous week’s lessons. Continue to periodically refresh important material that will be on the test long before it is cram time.
- From vocabulary in literature to important dates in social studies to chemical formulas in chemistry, some things just have to be memorized. Instead of just handing lists out, make reinforcement a regular part of your teaching that students see in many places and formats, especially throughout the unit.
- If you are a science teacher, ask the students to give you the chemical formula for water (or something similar) when they ask to use the bathroom or go to the drinking fountain.
- If you are teaching Canadian History, pick four or five dates you want students to be able to recall, put them on your board, and start every class by asking students about them.
- If you teach ELA, give students extra credit for incorporating vocabulary words into their other work, whether spoken or written.
- Have students write test questions and then use the good ones on the test. Students will not only be more invested in the test if they help create it, but they will also be reviewing the content as they look to write test questions.
For more test prep strategies and ideas for helping reluctant students prepare for tests, read this post: 10 Essential Test Prep Strategies To Maximize Student Performance. The blog post offers guidance for both teachers and students on effective test preparation strategies.
Suggestion Two: Tests as Multi-Stage Events
So often, we think of tests as one-and-done events – something to do on test day and then move forward from. Tests don’t have to be that way. If the whole point of a test is to demonstrate what students have learned and to create a sense of accountability, there is no reason that tests can’t be slightly more drawn out.
For instance:
- There is no reason that corrections can’t be a part of the test and not just extra credit. Grade the tests, hand them back, and have students fix their mistakes (including showing their corrected work or citing where they found the correct answer). Make final grades dependent on making corrections.
- Many teachers allow students to use notecards on tests, but these are not required. Instead, make notecard-making a part of your classwork. Not only do you encourage students to study as you make these, but by helping them learn how to make effective notecards, you are teaching important study skills like summarizing, synthesizing, and evaluating.
- Make your tests (or at least part of your tests) open book, but write your questions in a way that asks students to demonstrate their understanding of a topic and not just their ability to parrot. For example, instead of asking, “What countries were involved in the War of 1812?” use “How did the contributions of Indigenous Peoples help Britain in the War of 1812?” Or, if you’re a teacher in the USA, instead of “Who was the American general in charge during the American Revolution?” use “Why was George Washington important to the success of the American Revolution?”
Suggestion Three: Fun Post-Test
Again, tests are often one-and-done things. The day after the test, you start the next unit. Instead of this, make the day after the test a day to reward students. When helping reluctant students prepare for tests, rewards can be a great incentive.
Students can be rewarded when they:
- Turn in a completed study guide (or make a notecard, complete an online review, etc.)
- Improve the class average for the test – if the first test’s average was 86%, reward 87%.
- Answer with quality responses. If the test is short-answer or essay-based, reward students for quality answers (e.g. if you require at least two good sentences for a response, give a reward if everyone writes at least three).
Then, the day after the test, provide a compelling reward for reaching these goals, such as making the day after the test a game day. There are many options here, but one great suggestion is to use digital escape rooms. They are a blast for students and get everyone active and involved. If you need some fun, no-prep digital escape rooms, you can find them on Teachers Pay Teachers or in my Shopify store.
Check out this blog post 8 Ways To Make Exam Review Fun for more ideas.
By helping reluctant students prepare for tests by enforcing prep work, making tests not a one-and-done item, and helping them look forward to something besides just more work post-test, you set everyone up for success.
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