Happy spring! Tis the season… for test prep! You too? But how exactly do you test prep? In my novice teaching years, I was killing a small forest with the review packets I’d create. Grading all that work, though, was a lot on me so I started looking for alternative ways to prep students. And as a student, where’s the fun in a problem set? Testing season is stressful enough!
So here you are. You probably ended up here the same way I did: good ol’ Google. When I first searched “how to motivate students for testing” I instantly became overwhelmed with the Pinterest-perfect (read: life-crushing, time-sucking) ideas. Still, kids need to be prepped! If, like me, you’re trying to figure out how to make test prep appealing while practicing assessment-ready skills, I’ve rounded up some of my favorite (read: life-giving, minimal prep) activities for learners of all ages.
Teaching and assessing curriculum can be difficult and painfully “dry” at times. I am supposed to be exciting and engaging for my students during lessons. How can I achieve the same excitement while preparing students for assessments? In this post, I am going to share exactly how you can use the most trending test prep activities to have fun with students while using curriculum-rich games and activities for success!
But First: Talk Data to Me!
Independent studies have shown we spend more than 20% of the school year reviewing for tests. Ridiculous, I know… even more ridiculous when you think of how uninterested students are when studying! Is anything even being accomplished? And then there’s the educator side of test prep. Teachers everywhere are spending so much personal time on finding and creating review activities each week with nothing new to show for it. Most of the time, we’re getting the same old test results with or without prep, not to mention the lowered student moral and lack of motivation. It’s enough of a problem to raise concerns for all educational stakeholders.
There’s hope… I hope! Once you see the trending ideas, premade activities, and games galore available below, you won’t have that overwhelming doomsday feeling at the end of each unit of study like in years past. Youโll be able to provide low to no prep quality opportunities for review. These test prep ideas are highly favored amongst students and prove higher success rates than your standard paper-and-pencil prep packet.
Iโve personally used the tips Iโll share with you in this article to create test prep opportunities and activities for my students of all ages and levels. Some of these test prep opportunities and activities are my own “done-for-you” resources with little to no prep. Work smarter, not harder! Others will include trending ideas that are working in classrooms worldwide! Let’s dig in to see what I’m talking about.
Motivating Test Prep Activities for Young Learners
Interactive Notebooks are Foldable Fun
These teach students to organize and arrange their thoughts during the whole learning unit. By working with students to create a systematic way for them to organize their thinking, you will be able to teach study skills without actually teaching them. Check out some of my print and go foldable activities here.
BINGO! Games Galore for Tried and True Test Review
Who doesn’t like a good ol’ game of Bingo?! These boards can be bought or customized to review a variety of concepts. My experience is that many ages enjoy these but specifically 5th grade and below!
The Writing’s On the Wall, Graffiti Style!
Get kids up and moving with a few rolls of bulletin board paper and colored markers! Students can pair to work with partners and solve teacher-provided problems, compare and contrast key concepts, read and respond, etc. They’ll analyze questions and answer choices (teachers can always change how the students respond to the questions to fit their needs). It is great for in-depth, rigorous questions that are typically difficult to answer and require time and energy.
Not sure what this looks like? Here’s an example for you: have students read comprehension passages on their own and then respond to the text-dependent questions together. You could copy the passage to the butcher paper and have kids annotate there for all to see. It’s a lot of fun!
Motivating Test Prep Activities for Older Learners
Online Games for Collaboration and Competition
There are several online versions of popular games to choose from: Jeopardy, Kahoot, Wordwall, Family Feud, etc. Students are instantly invested and excited to play because they have seen these shows play out on TV. By gamifying student learning, teachers can review essential concepts in a fun, meaningful way. Want to make your own review games? Slidesmania and SlidesCarnival have awesome templates for free download!
Escape Rooms Provide Exciting Evaluations
This idea has students walking around the classroom unlocking codes to “breakout” and escape. For less paper and prep on your behalf, this can be accomplished 100% digitally as well using Google Forms. Each “lock” will reveal important test taking strategies and concepts. The use of a secret code will keep students engaged while competing to find that final code before time’s up!
Spirited Days and Physical Movement
Review can be fun when it smells like team spirit! Sports activate student bodies (hello, brain break!) and provide a collaborative study session. A common favorite in my classroom during the month of March? Trashketball! High-energy fun with little prep: all you need is a trashcan/basket and ball. To play, split your class into teams. Give the class a problem to solve then call on a student from the first team to share the answer aloud. If correct, their team gets a point and that student gets a chance to shoot the ball into the trashcan for a bonus point. If incorrect, the other team can steal. Be forewarned: spirit days can be intense… and loud!
Final Thoughts – Test Prep Tips
Spend time on what your students donโt understand, not on what theyโve already achieved or what youโve covered with ease. Incorporate test prep into your weekly instruction with spiral review so you can avoid killing a small forest of your own the week before assessments!
If you follow the tips outlined in this guide, you should start to see active learning happen in your test prep sessions. Get ready to watch your students’ confidence (and test scores!) grow. For more low to no prep classroom activities, visit my TpT store to grab your own set!
ACTIONABLE STEPS: Iโm always interested in hearing your thoughts, so donโt be shy; say hi! Got a great game or test prep hack? Let us know in the comments below!
