Standardized Test Taking Skills

BOTH GROUPS
MaryBeth Ventura, our Learning Specialist, taught a lesson on Monday about standardized test taking skills. The ERB tests are not high-stakes criteria based test, but norm-referenced tests, which means results are compared to other students around the country who took the same test, rather than specifically on what the students at this school have been studying. The school uses the results of this test to look at what we cover in the curriculum, for example. Learning how to take standardized tests is a useful skill, since most students will be taking them in the future, for example, college entrance exams.

Students generated the following strategies to feel more prepared and less anxious before and during testing.

Before the test:
Stay calm
Don’t think about it too much
Move a little to get blood moving
Eat for energy (whole grains, protein)
Study—keep up in class
Listen to music on way to school
Self pep-talk/prayer
Get lots of sleep
Practice tests
Have materials ready

During the test:
Stay calm
Take your time/Don’t rush
Read the questions carefully
Read all the choices
Look for key terms
Eliminate obviously wrong answers
Make an educated guess (no penalty for guessing)
Preview whole test to pace yourself
Skip questions you’re stuck on and return if you have time
Look over your answers again at end

We also talked about techniques to reduce anxiety. Positive self-talk is the number one anxiety reducing technique. We also practiced two other techniques: tense & relax, and visualization with cupped eyes.

Finally, we talked about strategies specific to math standardized tests:
1. Read question & instructions carefully
2. Open up right files in your mind
3. Use scratch paper
4. Write down the information and quantities given
5. Write down the question to be answered
6. Draw a picture of the problem
7. Try to put quantities into an equation
(+, -, x, /, proportion)
8. Look for key terms
9. Estimate
10. Rule out & guess

In class on Tuesday we practiced taking a standardized test, and discussed our answers and strategies. Class notes may be downloaded here for class 7A or class 7B.

LARGE GROUP
In class 7A we started working on a 3 dimensional geometry problem using nets, flat figures that can be folded and made into boxes. We reviewed some terms from geometry, including vertex, edge, area, surface area, volume, square, and cube. The problem we will continue working on tomorrow is to determine how many possible nets can make a cube.

No homework tonight for LARGE or SMALL groups.