Whether you have a test day coming up or not, as any test day draws nearer, you may be thinking about ways you can prepare students, give them extra help and make sure they are optimizing their chances of success. We’ve put together seven top tips to help you give every student the best chance of succeeding and improving their scores on tests which you can adopt.
Test your students
It may not be right just now but make sure there aren’t any topics where more practice could be done by putting out a benchmark assessment. Although you may have done a lot of benchmarking so far, things can change quickly throughout the year so it’s a good idea to do this regularly, and doing it regularly will get your students used to testing too.
Evaluate your data
Take a look at data and make sure there isn’t something missing from your students’ knowledge throughout the year. It may be worth discussing data with your students to see where they are at and where they may need more practice so they can progress for the test.
Adopt a positive culture
Encourage and support students in setting goals and then make sure they never act as though they can’t reach those goals. Show your students that they should celebrate all their successes and model that culture for other students too. This can help with alleviating any anxiety before tests and during the school year.
As well as this, whenever possible, make any test practice a game, and make sure you give rewards so students are motivated and striving forward.
Encourage parental help
Keep parents informed of what’s going on with their child and their preparations for any tests or progress throughout the year. This means parents can get involved and help their children with any practice they are doing.
Just practice
So it’s obvious but practice really does make perfect. By putting together a review plan when it is appropriate, which includes different learning modalities and gives many chances for practicing content as well as the testing format, you can help students retain information they need to know and gain more understanding of concepts. Your students should be better prepared when testing day arrives by doing this too.
Bring healthy snacks
It’s important that students are fed and ready for their tests. You could make sure that on testing day, parents give children a snack, such as granola or energy bars, or something healthy their child enjoys, to set them up for their test.
Teach student techniques
It’s not just a hungry stomach that can bring down test scores though – any aching backs or necks can too! Show your students some seated stretching techniques and breathing exercises that they can do during the test and in any practice lessons too.
Our solutions offer great ways to help your students with test preparation and optimizing their scores. Take a look at our full range of solutions on our web page.