Last week I gave my juniors a test, and of course, the day before the test I reviewed what would be on it and its format, and in each class someone asked “how should I study for this?” And it got me thinking, in some ways we are doing our students a disservice by telling them to study for the test.
When we tell students to study , we usually mean a couple of things: review your notes, or drill with flashcards, or practice problems again. What are we really saying there? When we tell students to study, aren’t we really telling them to read, and reread a bunch of facts/information? Practicing problems (I’m thinking math here, but it applies elsewhere) is a bit different. Shouldn’t tests be more than just reproducing facts and information? or doing the same problems students have already done?
I don’t like to give a test until I am pretty confident that students know the material and can discuss it or work with it in some deeper way. If you know it, you shouldn’t have to study it, right?
There is a place for “drill and kill” in schools. Memorization is important to some extent. Yes, you need to memorize verb conjugations in foreign languages. Yes, you need to memorize the list of pronouns in English in order to do any more in-depth grammar. That requires studying and students should be quizzed on their memorization, but the final summative test should include much more. Students should be well past the memorization phase.
How do you study for my test? You don’t. You already know it.
Adam's Ed Musings 