Strategies and Techniques
Marie E. Foley
Preparing Students For Exams Textbook Comprehension
Ice Breakers Campus Resource Field Trip
PREPARING STUDENTS FOR EXAMS
These two activities attempt to relieve students of test anxiety by demystifying
the test-taking process.
1. Evaluating answers to exam questions (from Gail Tennen's "Faculty
Guide to Increasing Student Success in Social Science Classes" p. ??)
Description of the activity Provide students with
a sample question and a sample answer. Give students, either verbally or
in writing, your grading rubric or scale that articulates what you look
for in the answer. (Alternatively, allow students to participate in the
creation of this rubric.) Have students grade the sample answer. In groups,
students compare their grades and discuss their grading rationale.
Materials needed: Sample exam question, sample answer,
exam rubric Class time involved: 30 minutes
2. Learning how to interpret exam questions
Description of the activity Using an overhead or
xeroxes, present students with a list of sample essay exam questions; in
my composition course, I use questions from various disciplines (see attached
handout). On the board (or on the xerox) list the various thinking strategies
that are likely to be called for in an exam: defining, comparing, arguing,
analyzing causes and effects, evaluating, etc. Have students indicate which
strategies are being asked for in each question. Students discover that
questions that ask them to "discuss" or "explain" have
to be interpreted; often they are really being asked to compare or to argue.
Materials needed: Overhead or xerox of sample questions
Classtime involved: 20 minutes