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Read the Instructions!
How many times have you told your students to read all the instructions on a test or exam before they start? Well, here's an effective but fun way to reinforce that message.
I've used an activity like this with students of all ages and have tailored it to match the age and ability of the group. It doesn't have to be subject specific and it only need last about ten minutes, but they go away with a lesson for life.
The activity consists of a list of instructions, which you can make as fun as you like.
- The first instruction must always be 'Read all the instructions before you start.'
- The penultimate instruction should be 'Ignore all the instructions before this one.'
- The final instruction should be 'Write your name on the top of this page.'
For a lower ability but well-behaved group, you may have instructions such as:
- 'Stand up, turn round and sit down again.'
- 'Stand up and touch your toes three times.'
- 'Say out loud the colours of the rainbow.'
- 'Clap your hands three times.'
- 'Write your name backwards.'
For a higher ability maths group, you may also include:
- 'List all the prime numbers between 50 and 100.'
- 'Work out the number of seconds in a day.'
- 'Say out loud the first letter of the alphabet with rotational symmetry but no lines of symmetry.'
It's obviously important that you don't give the students any hint about what you're trying to teach them. Just tell them that they have five minutes to answer the questions and then ask them to turn over and start. If you create the feeling of time pressure then you can replicate that feeling of sitting a test and they are more likely to ignore the first instruction and just plough on. You can certainly create a hilarious few minutes as different students are standing up, sitting down and calling out answers. Of course, in the subsequent debriefing any students that have only written their names on the sheet should be singled out for praise.
Answering the Easy Questions First
Another way to boost students' scores is to talk to them about the psychology of taking tests/exams. It is human nature to start at the first question and work your way through the test question by question. Of course, if you find one of the earlier questions particularly hard, this strategy can mean you not only waste time but also become unsettled and your performance suffers.
A good strategy is to take a few minutes to read through the whole paper and mark each question with a tick, question mark or cross (check mark, question mark or X for readers in the US) depending on whether the questions seem easy, medium or hard.
You then start with the easy questions, which settle your nerves, get your brain working and give you a confidence boost. It's amazing how you can then 'unlock' questions that you thought would be hard. It may seem obvious to save the hard questions to last, but you'd be surprised how many students simply work though the paper in order.
I'm sure you all have favourite hints and tips that you give to students before assessments. I'd be interested to hear about any that you could pass on to others.
You can find more exam tips in the May 2011 Letter from the Editor. Also, check out Mathematics Revision Strategies in the Planet Teachers' Lounge.
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