One major impediment to raising test scores is that the tests simply cover more than a teacher can practically teach during the entire school year--much less during the eight and a half months before the testing weeks. Therefore, it is necessary to prioritize the concepts and standards that teachers will cover within their classroom curricula.…

This 145-item bibliography of examination study guides is a major revision of an earlier edition published in 1989. There are 45 new entries and 23 deletions of older books. This bibliography is intended for undergraduate students preparing for examinations required for admission to graduate or professional schools and for college graduates…

Samples of classroom activities designed to provide practice in specific test-taking skills are provided for use by teachers in the New York City school system. This guide provides activities that aid children in following instructions, time management, use of separate answer sheets, answer choice, and scanning and skimming. Unacceptable teaching…

This guide to preparing for, and taking, examinations was designed for college students. The booklet recommends a series of techniques for proper preparation. These include making a semester, or quarter, study plan; and appropriate scheduling of study time and determination of a study area. Good review techniques involve planning a systematic…

The term "coaching" applies to a variety of types of test preparation programs which vary in length, instructional method, and content. Most research on the effectiveness of coaching has examined the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT), a measure of academic abilities used to predict college performance. This ERIC Digest reviews studies of…

In a microanalysis of the behaviors of examiners and handicapped children during videotaped testing sessions, handicapped students performed better with familiar examiners than with unfamiliar examiners. The children spoke significantly more often and longer when tested by familiar examiners who exercised more frequent and longer intervals of…

Test wiseness (TW) has been recognized as an important source of variance on standardized achievement tests, independent of content or random error. To help students develop the type of TW skills necessary for optimal performance on reading achievement tests (ie. time using, guessing strategies), a comprehensive TW skills instructional program…

This publication contains six booklets useful to classroom teachers in helping students acquire test-taking skills. These materials are designed to familiarize students with the mechanics involved in taking tests, and teachers with skills which relate to the wider year-long scope of the curriculum. This should minimize format-related problems,…

Describes a classroom guidance unit designed to assist middle school students in exploring their skills, habits, and attitudes related to taking examinations. By presenting appropriate test-taking habits and attitudes in a stimulating, group-oriented format, the unit offers an opportunity for students to acquire important academic skills.…

Describes a test-taking course designed to prepare seventh-grade students for the SAT.

The faculty at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Medicine has developed an explanation of repeated medical student failures on Part I of the National Board of Medical Examiners (NBME) examination. They see the failures as the result of incomplete development of reasoning skills. Author/MLW)

This study focused on the review process before social studies testing. The students involved in the study were 71 13 and 14-year olds and came from predominantly middle to upper class social status in a Knoxville, Tennessee suburb. The influence of an interactive review based on the quiz show "Jeopardy" was compared with that of a "seatwork"…

This collection of documents contains advice on doing well on tests by preparing and using the whole brain. The first sheet contains general tips for helping students become fact-smart, how to improve test-smartness, and how to build test-smartness. The combination of these three approaches assures that students will do their best on tests. The…

This document describes a community college advisement program that was implemented to improve the student pass rate for the national nursing licensure examination. The nursing faculty at Manatee Community College (Florida) recently instituted an advisement system during the final semester of the two-year nursing program. First, students were…

This study investigated the effects of two practice reading methods (an ACT [American College Test]-prep program) on the performance of 11th grade students (N=43) on an ACT science portion mockup sub-test. A pre-test, treatment, post-test with control group design was used in the study. The treatments included that students read the ACT science…