This paper reports on a qualitative research study into the test-taking strategies employed in completing two picture prompt writing tasks--Situational Writing and Interpretational Writing in the Beijing Matriculation English Test. Think-aloud and retrospective interview protocols were collected from twelve Chinese students representing two key…

By viewing standardized reading tests as a unique genre that could be taught, the author designed a two-week genre study for her reading workshop. The article describes how she planned, taught, and reflected on the unit. This genre study resolved some of the dilemmas she faced around preparing students for mandated testing. (Contains 1 table and 2…

Reviews common errors in accounting tests that students commit resulting from deficiencies in fundamental prior knowledge, ineffective test taking, and inattention to detail and provides solutions to the problems. (JOW)

To reduce test anxiety, students should know that apparently no correlation exists between student rankings on examinations and the order in which students completed those examinations. Although the first paper completed usually ranks higher than the last, it is not necessarily the best paper, nor is the last the worst. (SB)

Suggests techniques for teaching students to comprehend test questions in a manner that requires them to think about both what is in the question and what could be in the passage. (HOD)

This article discusses how test preparation helps students with deafness to develop the skills required to do well on standardized reading tests by examining test-taking strategies and common language structures used in test items. Common errors made by students are listed and helpful remedial classes are discussed. (Contains four references.)…

Testing professionals need to work with teaching staff and parents to help students prepare for standardized testing. Year-long preparation involving teachers and parents is a better alternative than teaching test wiseness strategies at the last minute before a standardized test. (Author/PN)

Applies the basic principle of performance to taking tests, poses some alternative views of test performance, and provides some general guidelines that will facilitate improved test-taking. (Author/CM)

Current coaching practices used in training test wiseness for analogy items on standardized test batteries were investigated in a 3-group design involving about 100 undergraduates in each condition. The largest improvement came in items in the middle range of difficulty, but overall effects of coaching were important. (SLD)

Reviews the use of tests with deaf students, especially reading-comprehension tests, noting documented differences in test-taking abilities of deaf and hearing students and specific compensatory test-taking strategies used by deaf readers. A rationale for including a formal test-taking skills component in the curriculum for deaf students is…

A big problem with performance tests and standards is their specificity, or lack of generalizability. "Keeping no secrets" and "teaching to the test" for performance tasks and traditional tests are absolutely necessary if schools are to prepare students adequately to meet performance standards. This nontraditional approach…

Discusses appropriate ways to prepare students for performance assessments and proposes a list of six guidelines for teaching to performance assessments. The focus is on elementary and secondary education. It is believed that these guidelines will help balance the domain and sample problem. (SLD)

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of disclosing a Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) form on the retest performance of examinees who initially had been tested with the disclosed form and subsequently retested with a different form. Retest performance was compared for three random samples of examinees who had been tested with the SAT as…

This study investigated the effect of a linguistically based coaching program (with special attention given to the syntactic and semantic requirements of standardized language arts achievement tests) on the performance of selected black high school students on objective tests. The five subjects, one male and four female, were high school juniors…

Provides a sampling of recent program development ideas that show the varied nature of test wiseness instruction. Warns that teachers are unsophisticated test writers. (ARH)