Students prepared for classroom examinations by completing practice tests, with selected items from these practice tests repeated, in either the original or in a modified wording, on classroom examinations and a final examination. The availability of immediate self-corrective feedback on Study 1 practice tests (0, 3, or 6 practice tests) was…

Results are in general agreement with previous research indicating that self-monitoring can have a dramatic effect on certain behaviors. In the present study, those Ss who recorded their own frequencies of accurate responding maintained their review efforts significantly longer than Ss who did not self-monitor. (Author)

The test-taker is viewed as a hypothesis-generating organism who can become "testwise." Testwiseness is defined as a stable skill, acquired by test-taking experiences, by which an individual can make test responses conform to a desired response pattern. (Author/MV)

In the class session following feedback regarding their scores on multiple-choice exams, undergraduate students in a large human development course rated the strength of possible contributors to their exam performance. Students rated items related to their personal effort in preparing for the exam (identified as student effort in the paper), their…

This article advocates making the provision of opportunities for learning the main objective of language testing. It recognizes the need for tests to be fair, valid, and reliable, but asserts the priority of what it calls "learning validity", in order to prevent time being wasted on language courses on tests, and the preparation for them. The…

Evaluates the practice of providing feedback to students in a college psychology course. Findings indicated that reviewing test items improves subsequent scores on identical items, but not when the items appear in a rewritten format. (Author/DB)

Providing examinees with advanced knowledge of the difficulty of an item led to an increase in test performance with no loss of reliability. This finding was consistent across several test formats. ( Author/JKS)

Failure to include nonnative English speaking students in a testing program, something that is especially important in a state where a high school graduation test is administered, can cost students the opportunity to practice for the test, as well as the opportunity for diagnosis of educational attainment and feedback about their progress. For…

Defines computer assisted language testing (CALT), discusses the various processes involved, outlines the advantages and disadvantages, and examines psychometric aspects of computer testing. A table of factors distinguishes between test content and the mechanics of test taking. These factors constitute a table for developing a CALT checklist. (24…

When multiple-choice answer sheets are printed in the latent-image format, students may be required to select alternatives until they identify the correct one. This provides immediate feedback and permits use of more complicated test formats, but it also introduces novel ways to cheat and may engender substantial anxiety in test-takers unless…

A description is presented of an improvement program that focused upon a small, flexible, open primary school. The school had been targeted for improvement because of rather low test scores. Improvement efforts focused on findings from four basic strands of school research: (1) structured learning environment; (2) academic feedback; (3) high…

Provides evaluation of Cliffs' GRE StudyWare package (Bobrow, 1992). Discusses the educational implications of using Cliffs' approach, in addition to focusing on software considerations. Makes recommendations concerning Cliffs' method for Graduate Record Examination (GRE) preparation. (Author/LKS)

The effects of review options (the opportunity for examinees to review and change answers) on the magnitude, reliability, efficiency, and concurrent validity of scores obtained from three types of computerized vocabulary tests (fixed item, adaptive, and self-adapted) were studied. Subjects were 97 college students at a large midwestern university…

A student's choice of an answer to a test question is a coarse measure of his knowledge about the subject matter of the question. Much finer measurement might be achieved if the student were asked to estimate, for each possible answer, the probability that it is the correct one. Such a procedure could yield two classes of benefits: (a) students…

"Test preparation" activities can range from simple practice to in-depth instruction, but most of these activities use some form of test familiarization, drill and practice with feedback, training in strategies for specific item types, and general test-taking, subject-matter review, and skill development exercises. Two experiments were…