4 Tips for Getting Test
Individual Testing Centers
Some students will take their standardized exams in exam locations on individual computers. If this is the case, have students practice taking their exam individually with headphones at their own testing stations in a computer or listening lab. This may make the listening portion easier for them since headphones will give a better quality of oral passages. Still, the more you replicate actual exam conditions, the better your students will do when they take the test for real.
Make It Count
Though your students will doubtless want to perform well on the actual TOEFL, or other standardized tests, they may not attribute as much weight to a practice test. You can help motivate your students to take the test seriously, and you should. When they care more about the outcome of the test, they will have a different attitude as they take it. Some of that attitude will be stress during the exam. To make the practice test count, you can count it as part of your students’ grades, you can assign extra homework based on test scores, or you can make students who do not test well take the practice exam again. And though you want your students to ultimately relax when they take their standardized exam, you want their practice to be as realistic as possible.
Get Other People Involved
You won’t be the one monitoring the standardized test that your students take on test day, so to create the most realistic test conditions for your practice day, get someone your students do not know to greet them the day of the practice test. You should also have that person administer the practice test as well. Throughout the practice test, the proctor should act like a test administrator, limiting their activities during the test to walking around the room and observing students rather than reading or grading their own papers. They should also refrain from being overly friendly with students or making conversation with them before, during, or after the practice test.
Some students will take their standardized exams in exam locations on individual computers. If this is the case, have students practice taking their exam individually with headphones at their own testing stations in a computer or listening lab. This may make the listening portion easier for them since headphones will give a better quality of oral passages. Still, the more you replicate actual exam conditions, the better your students will do when they take the test for real.
Make It Count
Though your students will doubtless want to perform well on the actual TOEFL, or other standardized tests, they may not attribute as much weight to a practice test. You can help motivate your students to take the test seriously, and you should. When they care more about the outcome of the test, they will have a different attitude as they take it. Some of that attitude will be stress during the exam. To make the practice test count, you can count it as part of your students’ grades, you can assign extra homework based on test scores, or you can make students who do not test well take the practice exam again. And though you want your students to ultimately relax when they take their standardized exam, you want their practice to be as realistic as possible.
Get Other People Involved
You won’t be the one monitoring the standardized test that your students take on test day, so to create the most realistic test conditions for your practice day, get someone your students do not know to greet them the day of the practice test. You should also have that person administer the practice test as well. Throughout the practice test, the proctor should act like a test administrator, limiting their activities during the test to walking around the room and observing students rather than reading or grading their own papers. They should also refrain from being overly friendly with students or making conversation with them before, during, or after the practice test.
Friendly Chatter
By the time they take standardized exams, your students are sure to have friends from your classroom. No so on the testing day. Testers will not be permitted to talk (especially during the exam). On practice test day, encourage your students to act like they are not a part of a friendly group of classmates. Have them refrain from talking to each other before, during, and after the exam. That way they will know how to prepare themselves before the exam starts on the big day.
By the time they take standardized exams, your students are sure to have friends from your classroom. No so on the testing day. Testers will not be permitted to talk (especially during the exam). On practice test day, encourage your students to act like they are not a part of a friendly group of classmates. Have them refrain from talking to each other before, during, and after the exam. That way they will know how to prepare themselves before the exam starts on the big day.
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