Test Taking Skills - Learn the Best Right Here, and Pass It Along

Test-taking skills…why isn’t there a class solely devoted to this? In my opinion, there should be. These standardized tests being handed out, even for children in middle school, are much more difficult than you would think. Now I’m not sure if teachers still follow this protocol (it’s been 9 years since middle school for me), but next time your child comes home with a test for you to sign, try taking it. They aren’t as simple as we’d like to think, and even for children who study for days before a big test, a lack of test taking skills could land them a below average grade. Test-taking skills are especially helpful for students with disabilities and reading difficulties. But trust me when I say that the tips I’m about to review will be helpful for any student, even up into their college years.

There have been times in my life where I was a great test taker. Other times, when anxiety hit, I’d make foolish moves on tests (like not reading directions carefully enough) that I wish I could take back. As an English student in college, I recall a drastic improvement in my test taking abilities. I’d would read a question, and keywords would immediately pop out at me; key words that triggered memory recall from my studies. And the answer would become immediately apparent. I remember I took an introductory class for poetry, a class in which we read over 200 poems by over 30 different posthumous poets. For our final, we had roughly 50 different one-liners given to us, and we were expected to know the name of each poem these lines were excerpted from, the poet who wrote them, and the year they were written. The class and especially the midterm were difficult, and so our professor promised all students an A for the entire semester given we scored a perfect grade (seemingly impossible) on this last test. I had a friend named Grace in that class, who sat right next to me during the test. The directions were simple, but the poems we read (and we were made to study ALL 200) were sometimes 50 lines long, and we were expected to recall just 1 line from each. As I read each “question”, each choppy line of poetry, keywords immediately popped out at me and I breezed through this exam within 20 minutes (out of the given 2 hours). I handed my professor my exam, who looked at me with this “you give up?” expression, and I walked out at least an hour before the next student finished up. Grace told me he immediately graded my paper and proclaimed, in front of the whole class as they banged their heads on their desks, “Tim is the first to ever ace this exam—in 20 minutes no less—and will be given an A for the entire semester." I’d have landed a B- were it not for this test (his midterm was a killer).

I digress. Your child has these capabilities just waiting to be mastered. Test taking these days is much more about memory recall than it is conceptualization, especially in middle school and high school. Don’t get me wrong, if you can help your child conceptualize their school work, it may be his/her best bet to acing their exams. But memory and word recall is also so crucial. Aside from language skills being paramount in developing strong test taking skills, there are many other ways to help your student out. Teach them to utilize these tips and they're sure to improve (unless they're already straight-A students).

Review the entire test before beginning. Skim it, at the very least. Make sure you understand what is expected from each section. Know the time allotted for the test. After reviewing each section, estimating how long each will take. Tackle the sections you know you’ll do best in first; leave the more challenging ones for last. Don’t be surprised if the sections you firstly tackle clue you in on other answers. Know the point value of each question. That is, if they are given, at least. This helps you prioritize the time you spend on each question. Follow directions to the T. This is self-spoken, but often not recognized as extremely important. Notice key words in instructions, questions, and answers. It’s also a good idea to associate key words in your studies. This might be hard to explain, but it’s simpler than you think. I’ll make an example: e=mc².  E=energy, M=mass, and C=the speed of light. Let’s say your physics teacher takes this equation, and puts it in words (most likely won’t happen), asking you what energy multiplied by mass equals. Well, it equals the speed of light times the speed of light, of course. Reread directions and questions for clarity. If you don’t understand it, reread it. And if rereading it doesn't clarify it, call your teacher for a rephrase. My Earth Science teacher liked me so much, she would point to the answer for me (shhh, I would have failed and she thought me too hilarious to flunk). Check off questions you don’t know and return to them later. Who knows, another question might clue you in on the answers to the questions left behind. Give it a chance. And finally, review the test before you hand it in! Big tests can give students high anxiety, and so when they finish, they just want out. Impress on your child how important it is to review before handing in. They may find a mistake or two, or they may stumble upon a question they initially made their best guess on only to realize (after answering a similar question later on) that it’s not the best answer.

And there you have it: 8 great tips for developing strong test taking skills. Teach these to your children or students, and even if you don’t see improvement right away, it will help them out big time, even during college. As I finish up this blog, I find myself wishing I could go back four years and retake every test. These tips would have surely helped out my GPA.

Resources

Prince, Audrey W., CCC-SLP. Super Duper® Publications (2008) Handy Handouts: Activities for Developing Test Taking Skills

Help Your Child Master the Art of Acing Standardized Tests

Standardized tests, usually multiple choice, true or false, whether you agree they're benefiting your child or not, will probably remain for years to come. So, it's best that you, as a parent, learn how to maximize your child's standardized test taking abilities early on.

First and foremost, I cannot personally stress how important being a good English student is when it comes to standardized testing. I was an English minor in college. I was also a Psychology major, and ALL of the tests in my Psychology classes were standardized. I've become such a gifted reader and writer that when I read a question, its key words pop out at me, and the answer becomes obvious right away. My gift of information recall is pretty impeccable, and I think that's because I place such a heavy meaning on words and associations. So my number one tip for parents is to help their children in English. It might not seem like the most important subject, but believe me, strong writing, reading and communicating abilities will take anyone very far in life. I haven't read one job posting that didn't boldly state that "strong writing and communicating skills is a must." So, English skills are important far beyond the classroom.

There are some things to teach your child early on to help them tackle the infamous standardized test, where creativity is thrown out the window and memory recall is held most highly in regard. Can't stand the rigidity, more of a creative person myself. So, here you go:

Homework: Make sure your child keeps up-to-date with all of his/her homework, jotting notes on key messages of each assignment (which may be discussed next day in class). Standardized tests usually cover what is handed out as homework during a semester's lesson plan.

Testing Accommodations: Some students with learning disabilities are eligible for testing accommodations. If your child is eligible, they might be able to take their tests differently than other students, eliminating the barriers that might exacerbate their test-taking difficulties. For example, a teacher may read out questions to such student. The student can then verbalize their response which the teacher will write down. Or, a child with learning disabilities may be placed elsewhere when it comes time to take a test.

Sample Tests: Find out if there are sample tests for whatever upcoming standardized test your student may be facing next. Sample tests prepare students for the format of the test, and often cover key topics in different means, helping the child conceptualize subject matter in a distinct light. This will also ease some of the anxiety your child may have about taking the test, anxiety which might deter them from doing their best.

Practice: Homework is a great chance for young students to practice their standardized test taking abilities. Have them practice deductive reasoning. Teach them to skip over questions that stump them, to move on to other questions and have faith that the answer will eventually come to them. Just make sure they keep organized and always check over their work. Time them during their homework. Take a look at the assignment, come up with a reasonable amount of time it should take your child to finish the assignment to his/her best ability. This will prepare them for the time limits that are used during standardized testing.

R&R: Yes I said it, rest and relaxation. Make sure your child is well-rested and especially well-fed before test taking time. You wouldn't believe how important this is for a child's attention span. A hearty breakfast and a good night sleep (especially after studying) will give them brain juice and optimize their memory recall.

Ask Questions: Not you, your child. Prepare them to listen to all directions an instructor might give before a test. If your child has difficulty hearing and processing information the first time they hear it, this tips for you. Make sure they're okay with asking the instructor to rephrase their directions, and not just repeat them. If your child didn't understand the first time, chances are the instructor simply reiterating the details won't help.

All of these simple steps can truly help your child when it comes time for those huge and even small standardized tests. They'll be taking them into their twenties, so it's best they learn better techniques now.

Resources

Kjesbo,, Rynette, M.S. CCC-SLP "Standardized Test Preparation" Handy Handouts (2009): http://www.superduperinc.com/handouts/pdf/292_StandardizedTestPrep.pdf

Core Curriculum vs. Common Core: How Would You Like Your Child to be Taught

"Core Curriculum"

Our schools follow the "Core Curriculum" standards, a textbook, standardized means of teaching. The "Core Curriculum" ensures that students learn material in accordance with their age or grade level. The "Core Curriculum" is eclectic, honing in on particular age groups and focusing standardized tests accordingly. Standards are set high for children, tests made difficult to an agreed upon degree, and some don't believe this is a positive. The Core Curriculum State Standards, instead of utilizing real input from parents or teachers with practical, hands-on experience, develops its standards from big corporations and government!

 

What is this about? You tell me. How do large corporations and government benefit from creating Core Curriculum standards, or, in other words, what our children are being taught? I'm not quite sure. But I can say one thing for certain: it rubs me entirely the wrong way. Large corporations (say, McDonalds) definitely benefit from a dumbed down population with little knowledge of nutritional value and the intellectual weight it deserves in America's over-eating attitude. Government could also benefit from a docile generation, taught not to question, to stray from creativity and gear toward more logical learning and thinking. How so? We won't question their legislation when they jeopardize our constitutional rights. I may sound cynical, but I'm merely voicing how many feel about this.

 

There are positives to this ever-changing "Core Curriculum" our children experience in and out of school. It evens out the playing field by raising expectations for all students, promotes critical thinking, and is increasingly progressive in its focus on collaborative and reflective learning. The fact that no two curricula are the same is definitely a positive. Every district has their demographic differences and it's important that we tailor our "way of teaching" to them, but I don't believe "what is taught" should differ: this creates a gap between demographics, a social stratification if you will which only perpetuates this status quo. If teaching a lesson to a monkey, penguin, elephant, goldfish, seal and a wolf is telling them to climb the same tree (standardized test) we're clearly doing something wrong.

"Common Core Curriculum"

On the other hand, we have the "Common Core Curriculum," developed its standards via an accumulation of input by state leaders, teachers, parents, school administrators, and experts across the country. These standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn. These standards are actually designed to be relevant to the real world, teaching kids what it takes to get into an established college, to find work, to be professional members of our future society. They teach skills necessary for a successful career, as opposed to merely having kids memorize and regurgitate a plethora of information (many times entirely irrelevant to the real world they're being "prepared" for) on a standardized test that stamps an IQ on their forehead (resume/CV). We pay a serious amount to have our children properly prepared for the future, yet academia has yet to take on this sort of platform: one that actually prepares students for future career prospects.

 

On the other hand, the "Common Core Curriculum" doesn't focus individually on demographics. Both affluent schools and schools in less-privileged areas teach the same curricula, evening out the playing field. Personally, I believe this at least prevents a perpetual social stratification, unlike the "Core Curriculum" our state strongly adheres to. Everyone should have the same opportunities. That is what our Founding Fathers wanted for us, and it's simply not there. Social stratification may always be present, but any chance we have to abridge the gaps between demographics, we as a society should make the choice to take. Again, this is my opinion, and many hold exactly the opposite opinion. It's very complicated, convoluted, confusing, but it's present and we can no longer look away. As parents especially, let's take control of how our children are being "prepared" for the real world. As individuals, we're weaklings. But as a growing group of intellects, we have the chance to get what we want. Core Curriculum vs. Common Core...which would YOU prefer your child follow.