Hi all,
Here are some things I’ve noticed in myself and my students over the last few years (I won’t say how many) of teaching and learning. Maybe they’ll help you do just a bit better on your next assessment, or as I like to think of them, chance to prove just how much you know.
Be rested. If you have to choose between cramming more information into your head and being rested, I always choose rest.
A quick aside - I have numerous examples of folks who would spend hours upon hours in the library instead of sleeping, and I think it helped them, but not as much as it would have helped them to get real rest before the test so they could focus.
Be calm. Bring your yoga breaths, your deep breathing, your sense that “it will turn out however it turns out, let me just do the best I can do.” Focus on your breathing during the assessment and consciously take some really deep ones.
Write work. Show anything that you’re thinking, even if you aren’t sure it’s right. That helps your teachers to see your thinking, and most teachers will award partial credit if they see anything that seems like the student is trying or has some idea what to do.
Annotate. This is a close reading strategy, but it helps no matter what level you’re at and whatever the question is asking. I circle the most important information and underline what I don’t understand after the first read, then I look at it again and see if I can make more sense of it. I also am careful to answer the question they are ASKING, not the question I think they’re asking.
Skip around (if you can) to the questions you can do with ease, then go back and spend time on the ones that you struggle with. This strategy works in standard tests, but not on adaptive tests like I-Ready. I star the ones that need more attention and come back to them after I’ve answered all the ones I know.
Avoid any distractions. This includes hunger, other situations in your life, anything that could make you focus on anything but the assessment at hand. This isn’t always possible, but I would say do whatever is in your power to put these things aside for a few minutes, even if you can’t fully control them.
If you have concerns about food insecurity, please ask someone at your school and see if they can help. Many teachers and professors will listen to this and do their absolute best to help.
If you have other things going on, again find someone you can confide in about it. This doesn’t need to be someone at the school, the teacher or professor, or a family member. It could be anyone you trust. Just sharing it usually helps, even though that’s risky. If it’s someone at your school, they usually have resources to help or know who to have you talk to in order to find more information. If it’s your teacher or professor, sometimes they can help you take the test another time or in a separate space where you can focus.
Pursuant to #6 - I find that for myself I can focus better when I have had exercise. I have a hard time convincing myself to do this, but if I can get a morning workout in I do a better job teaching, as well as on whatever tasks I need to accomplish, up to and including the assessments I have to take from time to time.
Take practice tests. Even if there isn’t one provided by the teacher, school or built with other classmates, there probably is one on Khan Academy or somewhere on the internet. Quizizz and quizlet are other good sources. If there isn’t one, make one and share it with your classmates.
Form a study group. If each of you comes to a study session with a few problems you don’t understand, you have essentially done #8 and made an impromptu study guide.
Make a formula sheet. Even if the teacher or professor doesn’t let you use it, making a 3x5 index card of formulas or main ideas or important information will help you to focus your studying on the stuff that is most essential.
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