Tips for Test Prep Season

Hello spring! We survived winter! That is always a huge accomplishment for me. Spring means more daylight, sunshine and warmer temperatures. It also means test prep season is officially upon us.

Test prep season often brings a lot of extra stress, but it doesn’t have to. Let’s discuss some tips to make test prep season engaging and fun in your classroom.

Spiral Back to Old Topics:

I utilize do-now’s and exit tickets to circle back to skills that we haven’t covered recently and/or skills that students struggle with. This gives students a chance to have quick target practice with a variety of important concepts.

Teach Types of Questions:

One important piece of advice is to expose students to what they will see so that they will be less anxious. I want my students to know what to expect so they don’t have to stress. I review the most common types of questions. We talk about what each question asks and review key words. Afterwards, I give students a variety of questions and ask them to sort.

In fifth grade, some of the most common types of questions are: word meaning, inferential, text evidence, summarizing, main idea and author’s purpose.

Define Key Test Taking Vocabulary

There are certain words that are important for students to understand in order to successfully answer a question. For example, in ELA some of the words include: evaluate, describe, compare, contrast, analyze, and infer. I play a variety of games like Bingo or Jenga to help students internalize the meaning of these words.

Practice Constructed Responses

A huge piece of state testing is the open response component. This requires students to use what they read and answer a deeper level question. I teach my students to break down the prompt. Identify the genre they are writing (informational, narrative or opinion), the type of writing they are doing (newspaper article, essay, letter etc) and then simplify what the prompt is asking in fewer words. I find that the biggest battle with these questions is students being unclear of what the question is asking.

I teach my students to use RACES when answering constructed responses. See my previous blog post for more about RACES. It is an acronym that helps students remember what to include in their responses.

R: restate

A: answer

C: cite evidence

E: explain & elaborate

S: sum it up

I will do a mix of independent practice, partner practice and joint construct when preparing students for constructed responses. I love joint constructs because students can work with me to write a sample essay. This helps them see my thought process as well as their peers.

After students practice, I will give them a previously released response. Using the rubric, I ask students to grade it. I will give them a low, medium and high sample. This helps them see what the expectations are and get to know the rubric.

Incorporate Growth Mindset

One of the biggest hurdles with test taking is a child’s attitude. They need to have confidence in themselves and feel that they can do it. Words like grit and perseverance are important to incorporate into a child’s vocabulary. Reading picture books that illustrate this also help students. Lastly, I have students complete fun and engaging challenges that allow them to see how important persevering really is.

Keep Activities Engaging

Test prep doesn’t have to be boring. There are ways to keep students happy and engaged. I find when this happens, they are more apt to remember and internalize the skills we are reviewing. Whenever possible, I play games.

One of my favorites is Stinky Feet. I write point values on the back of post-it notes and stick them on a picture of a foot. As students answer questions correctly, they take a sticky note. The team with the most points at the end wins.

I also like to project multiple choice questions and have students move to the corner of the room of their answer choice. Students need to defend their selection. I find it so valuable and students learn so many great test taking strategies

Writing constructed responses can be boring and tedious. Sometimes, I have students work together as a group to craft a response. They will each write a part of a response and then swap or add on to their previous partner’s work. This is a different spin on writing.