Test week creates an atmosphere of stress, because the results are critical. Students fear that test results - especially those from their high school years - may impact negatively on their ability to graduate or obtain a college education. Teachers and administrators know that results equate to funding, which in turn equates to jobs gained or lost. Everyone has a stake obtaining in positive outcomes.
The newest twist on these tests is are the “essay” or “think” portions of the tests. These are interspersed with multiple choice questions, and require the student to write short answer responses on a specific topic, extract information from a reading passage and process that information effectively in order to answer questions about the passage. Even math has its share of “essay questions,” in which the student verbally explains components and processes involved in mathematical equations. Real-live humans score these answers, and those humans are trained to look for some specific indicators of learning. The following information details the kinds of things scorers look for, common mistakes and errors students make, and what NOT to do if you are taking one of these tests.
READING, SOCIAL STUDIES AND SCIENCE
Reading, social studies and science questions involve reading an article or a piece of fiction, and then answering questions that relate to the piece. Questions about nonfiction articles tend to emphasize facts and data - who, what, when, where, why and how. Questions covering the fiction sections may ask for some factual information, but tend to look more for feelings, personality traits or other intangibles that are expressed through the behavior or dialogue of the character(s). In the case of fiction or poetry, students aren't graded on what they have gleaned from the passage; the scores rest on whether or not their explanations are text-based, clear and logical.
One of the biggest errors students make with the reading comprehension testing is that they try to answer questions from memory, rather than referencing the text. This leads to some interesting convolutions of information, and although these are entertaining for those scoring, they lower the item score. Always reference the text; this is one area in which copying (use quotation marks) is not only acceptable, but will get a higher score than trying to write things in your own words.
Another error students make is that they include information from their own experiences, from other classes or other sources. For example, on one state's exam, the reading portion included an article on the pros and cons of the national park system. Nearly every student included a reference to SUVs and global warming in their answer, ideas that were not found in the text of the article. Clearly, these students had seen Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth recently, and melded information from that program into their answer. Unfortunately, Mr. Gore's film was NOT part of the exam, so these students scored poorly.
Finally, the term “essay” or “short answer” infers that there would be at least one complete sentence. One or two word answers do not an essay make, and these will guarantee a low score. One-word answers don't offer enough information to ascertain whether there was any comprehension or not. If the word(s) come from the correct part of the text the student may get one point, but a sentence will be more likely to gain a passing score.
WRITING
Writing skills are usually scored on two broad categories: ideas and organization, and technical skill (spelling and grammar.) If the two categories were weighed, the “ideas” side would weigh more than the “technical” side.
Many times, a test item will request that ideas be explained “in detail.” The biggest error that students make is to repeat the topic sentence two or three times within a paragraph as a substitute for detail. Length matters, but repetition lowers a score. When this kind of repetition is present it is an indicator of a below-average paper. If a student is really stuck as far as fleshing out his or her original idea, it's best to move on to the next idea rather than repeating what was already written.
Organization is also a strong component. Create a basic outline, and have a specific destination in mind before writing the actual essay. High scoring papers flow easily from one idea to another; lower scoring papers tend to be scattershot, and appear to be written in “stream of consciousness” mode. Multiple ideas are stated with little or no exploration, explanation or backup. Focus on one idea per paragraph and prove that idea with two or three examples. One idea fully explained is better than floating a number of trial balloons with no explanations.
Vocabulary use is another factor separating high scorers from low scorers. A paper rich in vocabulary that is appropriately and accurately used reads beautifully. These papers score high despite the presence of any technical glitches within that paper. However, don't overreach. Scorers are not impressed (we do giggle a lot, though) when its obvious that a student has a dictionary and thesaurus at hand, and has chosen four-syllable words because he or she thinks they make him sound smart. Students writing to impress rather than communicate read like a script for the character Slick Mahoney of the Bowery Boys movies, with one malaprop following another. Words mean things, and the wrong word in the wrong place at the wrong time mean a major decrease in score points. Better to use what is comfortable, familiar and makes sense.
