Jennifer Byall, a mathematics instructor at Southeast Technical College in South Dakota, provides practice exams to students that are similar to the actual exam. Within the courseware system, Byall makes a copy of the actual exam with slight modification of the number of questions and new values in the problems. Students may complete the practice exam as many times as they want. Each time students take the practice exam the courseware scrambles the questions and replaces the problem values with different numbers. Byall has found that being able to practice the exam helps reduce exam anxiety for many students and identifies areas each student should practice before taking the actual exam. Each sample exam that a student takes can serve as an opportunity for metacognition, as they monitor their progress, reflect on questions missed, and modify their learning strategies before the actual exam.
Byall recommends that instructors encourage all students to complete at least one copy of the sample exam. Repeated practice can be completed as convenient for the student so all students can get the practice they need; some students benefit highly from the repetition of practice through multiple attempts. Students might need explicit guidance on the purpose of the practice exam, and how to fully benefit from the process of completing the exam and reflecting on results. Making tutorials available on topics like study skills, notes, and specific tips for your courseware will help student success.
Digital Resources
Courseware Testing System
A practice exam within the same courseware testing system that will be used for the actual exam helps students become more familiar with the exam they will be taking. Often students worry because they do not know what to expect on an exam and taking the practice exam helps them prepare; students are able to work problems very similar to the problems on their exam. Having a practice exam before each exam allows students to feel more confident and able to get help or practice more on weaker areas before taking the higher stakes exam. Students becomes familiar with the wording of exam problems and how answers should be entered in the courseware. Byall creates the practice exam to have the same settings as the exam including a time limit and the ability for the students to move ahead and go back between problems. This kind of instructional transparency ensures that students understand what is expected of them and how to succeed in the actual exam setting.
Digital Enablement
An online practice test allows the student to experience the testing environment without the pressure of a high stakes exam; this helps to make the exam environment ultimately feel more familiar and relaxed. Students not comfortable for any reason with their progress or the practice exam setting have unlimited opportunities to go through the practice exam experience. Byall is optimizing the courseware system’s capabilities to generate different problem values and auto grade sample exam attempts. Students receive unlimited practice without the burden on Byall of unlimited creation and grading.
The instructor can also benefit by using the courseware and practice exam reports to identify students who have taken the practice exam many times as students who may benefit from additional resources. The courseware may also be able to identify sections of the practice exam with large numbers of missed problems that could flag a particular content area in need of instructional changes.