Test Taking Strategies

Ellen WarrenStephanie Jordan

Rachel SimsDani Henderson

Test Taking Strategies

• High quality literacy program and intervention program is the best way to prepare students for high-stakes tests.

• Ask students to put a sticky note on any part of the test that is confusing to them.

• Have them tell you what is going on in their minds as they read and answer test passages.

Effective Test Preparation

• The three major components are reading ability (40%), content knowledge (20%), motivation (15%).

• Provide test taking practice on the appropriate level.

• Giving students grade-level material will have a negative impact, because it will deprive them of the opportunity to advance their skills.

• Explain to the students that when they come to a challenging question, they should quickly skim over the passage to find the pertinent information.

7 Steps for constructing a effective

program to prepare students for test:

1. Align instructional objectives with test objectives.

2. Model how you would go about taking a test.3. Create a rubric for assess a sample response to

an open-ended test question. 4. As a group, have the class cooperatively

respond to a similar test question.5. Provide guided practice as students respond to

similar open-ended test questions. 6. Have students take a practice test.7. Have students apply their skills by taking a real

test.

Reading comprehension

• Reading comprehension skills separates the "passive" unskilled reader from the "active" readers.

• Skilled readers, for instance:• Predict what will happen next in a story using clues

presented in text• Create questions about the main idea, message, or

plot of the text• Monitor understanding of the sequence, context, or

characters• Clarify parts of the text which have confused them• Connect the events in the text to prior knowledge

or experience

Resources

Pearson Custom Education: Developing literary: LITR 3130. New York: Pearson Learning Solutions.

Time4learning.com. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.time4learning.com/readingpyramid/comprehension.htm