1. Test familiarization

Show your students from the beginning of the course a test sample so that they can familiarise themselves with what and how they will finally be assessed.

Acquainting students with the question style can remove the mystery of the test and reassure more learning.

This will also help them get familiar with mark schemes and how these relate to the intended performance.

However, modelling can make the intended outcomes formulaic, restricting students’ willingness to think and create.

You can, therefore, provide an aspirational model where students are motivated to work on challenging questions and reach high success.

2. Test practice

An important test prep technique is to provide students with test practice. To do so, introduce test-style questions regularly (but not frequently) and encourage students to plan answers together and peer assess them.

Because students often struggle with time management during tests/exams, encourage them also to practise timing. So, they will learn to prepare, plan, and execute their responses within a given time.

In addition, to provide more test practice, you can engage students in writing their test papers.

Besides the mark schemes, students can also indicate the objective of the test, the lessons it covers, and its duration.

By designing tests, students become aware of how an examiner or a teacher marks their work and what is expected of them to achieve the intended performance.

Through such questions, you are likewise gaining formative feedback on how your students are getting on with their learning.

Be sure to integrate test practice into your instruction ahead of time before the test. Also, set strict time limits so that students can apply the skills of planning and timing their responses in the final test.

3. Test revision

Test prep also involves supporting students to organise their learning and revise.

So, teachers need to enhance students’ ability to organise their learning and equip them with the necessary revision strategies.

# Organisation of learning

Organisation is necessary for students to revise, develop more ownership over their learning and attain academic achievement.

To help your students organize their learning, here are some essential strategies:

• A note-taking system

All students need to have a note-taking system to facilitate learning and revision. You can, for instance, introduce Cornell note-taking for that purpose.

Source: Cornell University

Using this note-taking system, students record their notes using symbols and abbreviations. Then, they include a cue section where they add their questions, learning needs, and comments about those notes.

So, this section helps students to apply, analyse and evaluate what they have learned. After reflecting on their learning, they write a summary of those notes.

• A learning log/journal

You can ask students to keep an independent learning log or journal where they can record their work and then discuss it with you. This can support them to reflect on their learning and get more self-aware of their learning needs and goals.

To learn more about these effective learning tools, read this post: Learning Logs for Students

• Classwork

Students’ classwork is to be used with their notes, comments, and target sheet (learning outcomes) which is to be placed at the front of the folder for feedback and next steps targets.

• Homework

They need to be organised along with students’ classwork and purposeful to the topic or lesson of study. It need not always be marked or assessed so that students lose their motivation to complete it.

Still, teachers need to check if it has been done and acknowledge it verbally or through a task which depends on the homework completion.

• Feedback

Students need to understand the teacher’s feedback and respond immediately so that they can learn from their mistakes and make use of the advice.

So, encourage your students to organize their classwork and homework, and respond to your feedback immediately so that the corrected work is a source of learning and revision.

To do so, help them reflect regularly.

This is by providing them with a target log sheet that contains columns for the target set (objectives), a date to mark the completion of the assigned task, a teacher’s comment on how the target was addressed, and a student’s response to the teacher’s feedback.

To improve their work, students need to respond to the teacher’s feedback by revisiting and resubmitting their work.

• Planning revision

Deciding the timing and content of revision is essential. Therefore, collaborate with students to plan a timetable where they can decide on which areas of the course they need your support and which areas they wish to work on their own.

Further, by providing them with their revision timetable you need to reinforce the importance of showing commitment to its schedule.

#Test revision techniques

Since students’ learning styles differ, it would be useful to introduce them to a range of revision techniques and give them the choice to select those that suit their learning approach.

So, you can use different revision techniques within the same lesson and offer students a choice. Here are some examples.

• Blogs and online forums

To encourage students’ interaction and reflection on a given topic, you can post a question on your classroom blog, the VLE, or an online forum. Set a time limit for the discussion and encourage extended debate among students.

When the discussion has closed, introduce the same question in class for immediate follow-up and post another question online.

You can also use forums and blogs to invite students to share their revision strategies with their peers or experience with certain strategies you have already established in class.

Students can also work in groups to create a class revision guide and publish it online.

• Rewriting

This can help students revise and refresh their understanding of topics. Students reread their existing notes about a lesson, then rewrite 5 points. They check the new notes against the original ones and list any gaps.

To learn more from this strategy, students can work in pairs, compare their notes, teach each other, and add any relevant information they found concerning those notes. Then, they can record what they have learned by creating a video, or a presentation to show to their class.

• Mind mapping

Mind mapping can be a handy tool for students’ revision. Pose a question about the lesson in the center of the board.

Using the relevant notes and resources, students should create branches on the mind map. The next layers of branches should be key points to support these points.

• Quizzes

Ask students to prepare their quizzes for revision lessons. These need to be more interactive. To create their quizzes, they can use apps like Socrative, Quizlet, and Woorise.

Encourage students to contribute and reward ‘the Best Quiz’. Try to do it frequently to allow them to revise regularly their lessons.

• Keywords

Students can write the keywords related to the lesson on sticky notes and then choose one and talk for one minute on the topic using that word.

Students working in pairs can compare their keywords and think of a strategy that can help them remember them.

You can also ask them to rewrite in full prose, each of the keywords about the lesson they have learned.

4. Building confidence

Raising students’ self-confidence in their ability to deal with the task at hand is necessary for their success.

So, there is a need to provide students with a relaxing learning atmosphere where their fears and anxiety about test taking can be reduced.

Teacher’s talk is also required to push them to work hard and believe in themselves.

It is also important to let students speak and express their feelings as Burgess and Head (2005) state

If we act supportively and offer the time to listen, the student should feel able to talk. Even if nothing of significance emerges at the time, they may come back later if there is really a problem, and ask us to help or advice (p.10).

 

Test prep can be a source of reflection and formative feedback for both teachers and students. So, you need to make such revision an integral part of learning from the beginning of the course and equip students with the organisational tools that can help them gain more autonomy and ownership over their revision process. Moreover, evaluating that process and finding out how students are getting on with is needed to modify test prep techniques and make them more effective.