Improving Test Results

Did you know you can learn more from one hour of test-taking than one hour of reading study material? Testing improves your ability to recall, which is an essential part of learning, and guides you toward applying knowledge and problem-solving. Testing also validates learning and guides you toward areas where you need attention or seek help. Back in high school, a friend gave me a helpful tip while studying instead of just making notes, I should write questions from the study material and other sources covering the entire course and regularly practice those questions during my study hours.

That simple strategy was able to catapult me from being one of the average students in the class to being one of the top performers. This turns your study note into a form of Q&A, and the more you practice the questions, the more you transfer the material from your working memory to your long-term memory.

Test Preparation

The method discussed above is during your study time; however, testing for certification or grades in a school setting can be a different ball game, as testing for grades can come with anxiety or fear of failure.

There’s an interesting story about Richard Feynman, who, while working on an important physics project, got bored after working hours and decided to learn the skill of breaking locks. After years of learning and apprenticeship under one of the greatest locksmiths of the time, he finally learned the secret to being a master safecracker.

“The locksmith’s secret is that he was privy to the manufacturer's default settings.”

That’s it—that was the magic trick. Likewise, to be a master test taker, you’ll have to understand the workings of the brain and how examiners tend to repeat question patterns.

To improve your test outcomes, first, you’ll have to have a collection of past questions and glance through them. At this point, you are not trying to solve the problems but just to have an overview of how questions are set and possible areas of concentration while studying, as most examination questions attempt to cover the curriculum. Then, you can build your questions through the course, using the method we described above.

Prof. Richard Fedler’s Checklist

Prof. Fedler wrote a passionate letter to some of his students who were disappointed with their test results on how they could improve in subsequent tests; in the memo, he lists a checklist to help in exam preparation.

1. Did you make a serious effort to understand the Text?
2. Did you check your solutions to problems with others?
3. Did you participate actively in classes or group discussions?
4. Did you consult with teacher or tutor where you had difficulty understanding?
5. Did you practice past test questions at least four years behind?
6. Did you get enough sleep before the test? ( He adds that if you don’t get enough sleep before the test, the other steps do not matter)

I implore you to read through the list again, try to internalize its lesson, and then note possible improvements in your or your child’s test outcomes.

During the Test

While taking a test, Barbra Oakley advises that if anxiety creeps up, try and take deep breaths, pause for a moment, relax your nerves, and tell yourself that you’ve got this! Also, she further advises in her book “A Mind for Numbers” that counter to public opinion, which is to start from the easy questions. She recommends a method called “hard-start-jump-to- easy” which is that you start from the hard questions, and once you get stuck, you move to the easier questions. Once you are done with the easier questions, you revert to the hard questions, which you’ll find that you now have a dose of inspiration to solve by taking advantage of the diffused mode of the brain.

After the Test

After the test, do not fret or worry about the results, knowing that you have given your best and also understanding that academic excellence is not the only path to a successful life. Besides, like in the movie Tulsa King, Actor, Sylvester Stallone, notes to his mentor that the reason why employees ask for certificates is because they want to confirm that you were able to commit to a course for years and ensure its completion.

If your child needs extra preparation for examinations or an overall increase in grades, we are here to help, as I am devoted to genuinely help students succeed.