General Tips on Preparing Students for Standardized Tests
Teachers have observed that successful test-takers are often the ones with good attendance, homework and study habits. Therefore, daily assistance with homework and attitude toward school can have the biggest impact on student performance.
Here are some key tips:
- Optimize brain power. Remind students to get enough sleep and to eat a healthy breakfast on the day of the test.
- Monitor overall academic progress and stay in constant communication with parents to ward off potential problems.
- Enhance good reading skills. These are important in timed tests. If the student is not inclined to read books, magazines, newspapers and comic books will do.
- Teach them to review their answers all the time, especially if they finish the test early.
- Brief students on:
- test schedules
- name of the test and what it will measure
- test format (multiple choice, essay, true or false, etc)
- scoring format (will they be penalized for incorrect answers)
- how students will get the results
- impact of test results on the student
- Aim for activities that simulate the testing experience. If you teach math, try multiple choice geometry questions. If you teach English, ask students to identify antonyms and synonyms. There are workbooks for certain tests that prepare students for these kinds of exercises.
- Practice timed tests several weeks before the test date. Keep study sessions short. Set small goals with each study session (e.g. learn five words every day) as this can boost his or her confidence in studying.
- Remind them to remain positive and to relax. The best test-takers are often those who are confident, committed and at ease.
You should also be mindful of the limitations of these tests. Because even if testing companies try their best to create effective evaluation tools, there are still several factors that can influence a child’s performance.
These include how nervous the atmosphere is in the classroom or testing site, how the school curriculum is present in the material, how rested (if student got a good night’s sleep), and general test-taking abilities.
Sometimes, because of test anxiety, those who perform well academically have test results that are inconsistent with their usual grades. During this time, it is best to explain the tests’ limitations, and how it is important to not place too much emphasis on a single test result.
Sources:
Mehrens, William. “Preparing Students To Take Standardized Achievement Tests.” Retrieved February 10, 2010 from http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=1&n=11
Narang, Shama. “What you should know before your child sharpens his #2 pencil.” Retrieved February 10, 2010 from http://www2.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=1403
(Published 01 March 2010, Smart Communications Inc.)
