Students are doing pretty well all year, getting good grades on tests, assignments, participating in reading groups and book clubs. Test time comes and…more kids than you expected, fail. This creates stress for parents and you are staring at results racking your brain to figure out what went wrong. So what really happened? The test got them. Test taking strategies for elementary students need in order to be successful include practice with structure, language and multiple ways of asking questions. Test taking strategies for 3rd graders are especially important since it is their first standardized testing year.
Preparing students for a standardized test is NOT wrong or a waste of time. It sets them up for success so that they can feel confident, become deeper thinkers and really show what they know. After all, testing isn’t going anywhere. They are going to need it for the rest of their educating lives and maybe even longer in some jobs. But this does require a few lessons throughout the year or all before the test to remind them of what they need to look out for.
The best approach
The best approach for teaching test taking strategies elementary students need is throughout the school year so that students have ample time to practice with test taking passages. After teaching a strategy, hang a poster on your wall so that these ideas (which help them become better readers) can be in plain sight and become routine for students. I love to practice these strategies during quarters 1-3 and then leave quarter 4 for review right before the test. It allows time for small group intervention on strategies that students that students are struggling with.
Test Taking Strategies to Start Right Away
These 9 test taking strategies examples can boost scores and prepare students. Many of them are great general reading strategies too!
This activity below pairs with the anchor chart above, Activating Schema!
- Reading Actively– Teach students to stop and think while they read.
- Activating Schema– Teach students to think about what they know about topics and ideas based on the title before they start reading.
- Using Author’s Clues- Teach students to look for clues in the way the author writes words.
- Identifying and Following Directions– Teach students to actually read and understand directions. This one seems obvious but needs a LOT of practice some years!
- Rereading Saves the Day– This is one of the most helpful strategies a student can learn. Students need to make rereading text, questions and answer choices habit to fully understand.
- Navigating the Structure of Standardized Tests– Teach students to understand how tests are set up. Practicing looking at previous years’ tests can be really helpful to notice the way they are laid out.
- Eliminating Answers that Don’t Match– Teach students to get rid of answers that don’t make sense so that they can determine which answer is the best choice.
- Thinking Backwards– Questions that contain the words NOT/EXCEPT can be some of the trickiest questions! Students need to learn to recognize and attack questions with these words by thinking differently.
- Keep Moving– Test anxiety strategies for elementary students should be taught early to ease testing anxiety. Teaching students to choose an answer when they aren’t sure can be challenging for many but such an important skill to learn.
Create these posters or grab them here to use as anchor charts for reading lessons. Use with every reading unit for ample practice. After teaching, pair it with some practice! Use real test passages for authentic, quality prep so the testing day has little surprises.
Read more about testing activities you can do with your students!
More strategies
Of course, there are other strategies specific to reading ideas like theme, main idea and character that are super important to go over before a test but I find these to be the most helpful test specific test taking strategies. The book Test Talk has all of these and many more if you need a closer look. As always, remember to find a way to track student progress..whether it be a checklist or other anecdotal notes forms. It is always important to make sure YOU know what students really know and don’t know.
Make some great anchor charts with these ideas or use these and help students TAKE the test..instead of letting the test take them.
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