With the end of January approaching, so are exams and exam preparation. If you haven’t already, you’re probably starting to think of how exam preparation is going to look in your classroom this year.
If you’re teaching in Canada, you might know that high school exams in Ontario have been on and off the table over the course of the pandemic. For many schools this year, they are back on. Something important to consider is that some of our students haven’t had to write a traditional exam in a while…or ever. So it’s a good idea to approach exam prep one small step at a time to build student confidence.
Below you will find a few strategies for preparing your students to write their upcoming exams.
1. Provide a detailed exam review.
This might seem like a no-brainer, but the more detail you can give them, the better your students can focus their attention on what to study. Consider including details about the exam such as the time, date, length, specific sections, structure of each section, number of questions and expectations of writing portions. These details help to ease the fear of the unknown many students have during exams. You can find an example Grade 12 English exam review here.
2. Focus on reviewing the most difficult content.
Another one that might seem obvious, but how we approach identifying this can be helpful. Of course we can reflect on our notes and in our grade book for feedback. I’ve found that polling students helps determine how exam preparation will go. Using a Google Form, like this one, is a great way. Spend a little more time on those items, including some practice tasks similar to those on the exam.
3. Use games and trivia to review exam material.
Although number three, this is probably my favourite tip. I frequently use and encourage others to use Kahoots in their class as lesson exit cards or as full course exam review. Full course exam reviews can be lengthy to create, but they are a great way to engage students and provide them with direct multiple choice and true and false questions that mimic exam content. Consider checking out these Kahoots available: Grade 9 Geography Exam Review, Literary Terms in Fiction Review, or Family Studies Exam Review. Making Kahoots on your own is an easy task with a little practice.
Remind students of some key studying strategies, such as the use of quizzes or teaching others, as well as how to focus while studying. Allowing your students to determine how exam preparation will go allows them to take ownership over the task. The more ownership they have over the exam, the more confidence they will take into it.
If you’re looking for completed exams, exam review presentations, or other course content, consider these resources available on Teachers Pay Teachers below:
- Grade 9 Geography Quiz Bundle
- Grade 9 Geography Exam Questions
- Grade 12 Philosophy Exam Questions
- Grade 10 Family Studies Exam Review Bundle
And remember, you’ve got this.
Kel.
