"To a student, the stakes are incredibly high. If they haven’t taken many real tests (or realistic mock tests), then this test they are taking feels like THE ONE. For me, the stakes are lower, and I’ve seen these scenarios a thousand times: sure, some students will get lucky or unlucky this time or that, but over time, the right strategies are obvious."
What an amazing insight! I sometimes give individual passage exercises to help with time management. I thought it worked because of the forcing function: if you only have 5 minutes for a 6 question ACT science passage, you MUST skip around. There is no other option if you want to consistently finish on time. However, maybe part of it is also due to lowering the stakes. If you're doing 6 individual science passages in a row, it lowers the stakes to experiment on each one, which contrasts with taking a full test.
Thanks! That's one of my favorite science exercises. Making the stakes a little lower (without removing them entirely), increasing the frequency, and building up a little pain tolerance (not getting overly upset by a bad result) are all super helpful. This is something we try to do with the Mathchops games as well - there are stakes (you can raise your score in a meaningful way), but they are quite low, and you can try many, many times.
"To a student, the stakes are incredibly high. If they haven’t taken many real tests (or realistic mock tests), then this test they are taking feels like THE ONE. For me, the stakes are lower, and I’ve seen these scenarios a thousand times: sure, some students will get lucky or unlucky this time or that, but over time, the right strategies are obvious."
What an amazing insight! I sometimes give individual passage exercises to help with time management. I thought it worked because of the forcing function: if you only have 5 minutes for a 6 question ACT science passage, you MUST skip around. There is no other option if you want to consistently finish on time. However, maybe part of it is also due to lowering the stakes. If you're doing 6 individual science passages in a row, it lowers the stakes to experiment on each one, which contrasts with taking a full test.
Great stuff as always!
Thanks! That's one of my favorite science exercises. Making the stakes a little lower (without removing them entirely), increasing the frequency, and building up a little pain tolerance (not getting overly upset by a bad result) are all super helpful. This is something we try to do with the Mathchops games as well - there are stakes (you can raise your score in a meaningful way), but they are quite low, and you can try many, many times.