This Is Just A Test
One of my occasional duties as a substitute teacher is to administer exams. Over the past several months, I've developed a set of rules and suggestions that I share with classes on test day.
Mr. M's Rules (and Suggestions) for Tests
1. Do your own work.
Do not look at other people's tests, talk about test questions with other students, or share answers with other students. This is considered cheating. If you give me a reason to suspect that you're cheating, I'll put a big highlighter mark across your test paper, and you can discuss the consequences with your regular teacher.1
2. No talking while the test is in progress.
Math2 is hard enough already without adding a lot of distractions. So while people are taking the test, I'm going to ask you not to talk. Some of you will finish the test faster than others. Once you finish, feel free to read or to work on something else quietly until everyone is finished.
3. Make your answers easy to identify.
Something like a box or a circle around your final answer would be greatly appreciated. Don't make your teacher have to search for your answers.
4.Don't forget to put your name on the test.
If there's no name on the test, you don't get credit for it. It's that simple.
5. Read the entire test before you start working on any problems.
Take a minute to get an idea what kinds of questions or problems you have to answer. That way, you can focus on which problems to work on first and how long to spend with each. Which leads us to...
6. Pay attention to the time, and pace yourself.
You do not have to do the problems in the order they appear on the test. If you get stuck on a problem, don't feel like you have to finish that problem before you can do anything else. Skip it and move on to something easier. Then come back and work on the harder problem(s) later.
7. Draw a picture.
This is absolutely essential for physics and not a bad idea for any subject. A quick sketch, diagram, or outline can help you organize your thoughts and really see what information you have to work with and what you need to figure out.
8. Show your work.
In math and science, an answer alone isn't typically worth very much. The teacher needs to know how you got the answer. The process is as important as the result. In most cases, you can get partial credit for demonstrating that you have some idea what you're doing, even if you end up getting the wrong final answer.
9. Breathe!
When you get stressed out during a test, or when you're stuck on a problem, take a moment to calm down. Put your pencil down, close your eyes, and take a deep breath or three. Then start working again. You'll be amazed at how much it helps.
10. Check to make sure your answer makes sense.3
My favorite example: A student taking a physics test calculated the speed of a subatomic particle to be 2.4 x 1010 meters per second. He didn't stop to consider that the speed of light is only 3.0 x 108 meters per second. Since nothing travels faster than light, this answer is meaningless.
Another example: A student determined that $1000 deposited in a savings account at 7% interest would grow to $44,000 after three years. That answer clearly doesn't make sense. There is no bank in the world that would pay you $44,000 dollars on a $1000 investment after only 3 years. If you ever find a bank that pays that much, I'd love to know about it.
I usually write the first four on the board; these are my hard and fast rules for test day. The others are suggestions, and I'll share them as I feel inspired to do so.
So that's my bit on tests. Pencils ready, everyone!
--
1 For the curious, I've only ever had to do this twice, and both instances were in the same class. I told the students a couple of times to quit talking to each other, and the didn't. So I put a big neon green mark across their tests, and they couldn't seem to understand why. Duh.
2 Or science, or whatever, the subject du jour might be.
3 This suggestion is not guaranteed to work in economics, quantum mechanics, or political science classes. Sorry.
Mr. M's Rules (and Suggestions) for Tests
1. Do your own work.
Do not look at other people's tests, talk about test questions with other students, or share answers with other students. This is considered cheating. If you give me a reason to suspect that you're cheating, I'll put a big highlighter mark across your test paper, and you can discuss the consequences with your regular teacher.1
2. No talking while the test is in progress.
Math2 is hard enough already without adding a lot of distractions. So while people are taking the test, I'm going to ask you not to talk. Some of you will finish the test faster than others. Once you finish, feel free to read or to work on something else quietly until everyone is finished.
3. Make your answers easy to identify.
Something like a box or a circle around your final answer would be greatly appreciated. Don't make your teacher have to search for your answers.
4.Don't forget to put your name on the test.
If there's no name on the test, you don't get credit for it. It's that simple.
5. Read the entire test before you start working on any problems.
Take a minute to get an idea what kinds of questions or problems you have to answer. That way, you can focus on which problems to work on first and how long to spend with each. Which leads us to...
6. Pay attention to the time, and pace yourself.
You do not have to do the problems in the order they appear on the test. If you get stuck on a problem, don't feel like you have to finish that problem before you can do anything else. Skip it and move on to something easier. Then come back and work on the harder problem(s) later.
7. Draw a picture.
This is absolutely essential for physics and not a bad idea for any subject. A quick sketch, diagram, or outline can help you organize your thoughts and really see what information you have to work with and what you need to figure out.
8. Show your work.
In math and science, an answer alone isn't typically worth very much. The teacher needs to know how you got the answer. The process is as important as the result. In most cases, you can get partial credit for demonstrating that you have some idea what you're doing, even if you end up getting the wrong final answer.
9. Breathe!
When you get stressed out during a test, or when you're stuck on a problem, take a moment to calm down. Put your pencil down, close your eyes, and take a deep breath or three. Then start working again. You'll be amazed at how much it helps.
10. Check to make sure your answer makes sense.3
My favorite example: A student taking a physics test calculated the speed of a subatomic particle to be 2.4 x 1010 meters per second. He didn't stop to consider that the speed of light is only 3.0 x 108 meters per second. Since nothing travels faster than light, this answer is meaningless.
Another example: A student determined that $1000 deposited in a savings account at 7% interest would grow to $44,000 after three years. That answer clearly doesn't make sense. There is no bank in the world that would pay you $44,000 dollars on a $1000 investment after only 3 years. If you ever find a bank that pays that much, I'd love to know about it.
I usually write the first four on the board; these are my hard and fast rules for test day. The others are suggestions, and I'll share them as I feel inspired to do so.
So that's my bit on tests. Pencils ready, everyone!
--
1 For the curious, I've only ever had to do this twice, and both instances were in the same class. I told the students a couple of times to quit talking to each other, and the didn't. So I put a big neon green mark across their tests, and they couldn't seem to understand why. Duh.
2 Or science, or whatever, the subject du jour might be.
3 This suggestion is not guaranteed to work in economics, quantum mechanics, or political science classes. Sorry.
posted by Michael at
4:10 PM
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