Test prep doesn’t have to be the same old monotonous review and work. In fact, I prefer to spice up my test prep activities to keep my students engaged and to keep the work relevant and interesting. On this post I will share a test prep activity that works well with any subject and any type of question.
If you have never seen this before, students respond to a text or stimulus on butcher paper at the same time. For this activity, I took three test prep questions and taped them to the middle of a piece of butcher paper. I sectioned off the butcher paper into four sections: A, B, C, D. This referred to the students and not the answer choices. (The next time I do this test prep activity, I will number the sections instead of using letters if there are answer choices.)
- The question is asking me…
- The topic/skill of the question is…
- I already know…
- The answer is…because…
- ….is wrong because… (done for all three incorrect answers)
We talked as a class about how these steps were important to take as a good test taker. And how good test takers naturally do this without realizing it. While the students were discussing how to complete their sentences stems, I was walking around asking focusing/assessing/advancing questions. I was so proud of some of my students defending their background knowledge of a skill or just probing their partner for more specific language.
Here are a few closeups…
And the finished product (well, one of them!)
- It has the collaborative aspect (working with partners to solve the problem and compare and contrast)
- It helps the students really analyze and critique questions and answer choices (you can always change how the students respond to the questions to fit your needs).
- It is perfect for in-depth, rigorous questions that are typically difficult for students.
- This activity would also work really with passages and text-dependent questions. Most of the test prep activities work better for quick questions, but this one works well with the questions that require time and energy. I plan on completing it again with my Reading Test Prep Task Cards.
I would love to hear if you have used this method or seen it used in any classrooms. Let me know in the comments!
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