Not good at test taking?
June 9, 2009“My child is not good at test taking.” That’s how many of our conversations begin. And, so it began with Michael (not real name). We met him sophomore year at Xavier High School in Middletown, CT which he started after a very average freshman year at Lyme-Old Lyme High School in Old Lyme, CT.
Michael attended class, did his homework, and put in time studying. In most every class, he had a solid B plus-A minus average going into mid-terms and finals. He averaged Cs on his big tests thereby bringing his final grades into the C plus-B minus range. Moreover, he had bombed his sophomore year PSATs.
Michael’s teachers and parents reported that he was a really good kid.
We met Michael and agreed.
We reviewed Michael’s study schedule. He put in a healthy amount of time studying. His teacher comments indicated that Michael paid attention in class. He had no learning disabilities and appeared bright in conversation.
We then gave him our Learning Consultants’ Learning Assessment. There were many helpful findings. But, the most important related to Michael’s passivity while studying.
Michael studied. But, he was disengaged. He was able to get his homework done because, for the most part, it was busy work and did not require deep thinking. He appeared to pay attention in class but that’s because he had mastered the ability to seem interested even if his thoughts were elsewhere.
We worked with Michael within the Student Mastery framework. Two processes: Study Bursts (artificially induced 15 minute intense blocks of engaged studying) and Guess The Test, our trademarked framework for test prep, were utilized among other activities designed to increase Michael’s studying intensity.
Michael was not a natural. He rebelled passive-aggressively at first. It was hard to move from passivity to intensity. Over the first month, however, he noticed several outcomes when he did what we asked: (1) he performed better (2) he worked more efficiently and (3) when he was not grudging out over doing things a different way, he actually enjoyed our approach more than his past boring way of studying.
By the end of the year, Michael’s finals and big tests were in line with his grades during the term. Moreover, we have discovered why Michael had been doing poorly and we are now confident he will do well in the future.
Posted by Daryl Capuano.
