It’s too bad that the word “test” strikes fear and loathing into the hearts of students. Tests are evaluations of your knowledge, and unfortunately are primarily used by teachers to decide whether you have learned enough to get an A or an F, or something in between. Many of you learned to associate a good grade with success, satisfaction, and feeling good about yourself. And you learned that a bad grade was failure and feeling bad about yourself.

That’s because tests are always given at the end, as if it’s the summation after which nothing can happen – no more opportunity to learn or grow, no more opportunity to learn or demonstrate what you’ve learned. The End.

It’s too bad that tests have that impact on you. Because tests are really amazing tools for learning.

compared to rereading, practice tests during study increases likelihood that info will be recalled later.

promotes learning by direct processes active retrieval and transfer

indirect learning – encouraged study, learning from feedback, using to guide future study

Does having students respond to questions during an online lecture improve learning

active retrieval / differentiation

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/researchers-find-that-frequent-tests-can-boost-learning/?utm_source=Brilliant%3A+The+New+Science+of+Smart+Newsletter&utm_campaign=5998a98656-Brilliant_Report_16_1_2012&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_9c734401c1-5998a98656-311771185

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