Use frequent, low-stakes, cumulative tests in varied formats, including pretests, and encourage student self-testing¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 7 claims (5 for, 1 mixed, 1 against) · 2 studies (1 review, 1 theoretical), q2 · 0 of 2 report an effect size · 7 claims rest on one study

Description¶

The commentary recommends that instructors "use frequent, low-stakes, cumulative exams and a variety of test formats (e.g., cued recall, multiple-choice, and true/false) and give students exams both prior to learning and following the presentation of the to-be-learned material." Its Table 1 recommendations add providing feedback, incorporating collaborative retrieval, and encouraging students to self-test. Implementation tools include clickers, polling applications, review games, and collaborative quizzes (e.g., via Google Forms for instant feedback), with quiz generators and textbook test banks reducing preparation burden.

Design Implications¶

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Multiple-choice questions need plausible, competitive alternatives to require retrieval rather than recognition
• Feedback should be provided so learners can identify and correct misconceptions

Constraints¶

• Short-answer questions are time-consuming to grade, and competitive multiple-choice questions are time-consuming to write
• Low-stakes assessments may require less per-semester updating than high-stakes exams

Target Learners¶

• high school and college students

Target Learning Goals¶

• long-term retention, transfer, and reduced test anxiety

Affordances¶

• Desirable Difficulties Testing Framework

Claims¶

• Cued-recall testing can impair later memory for competitive, related but non-practiced information (retrieval-induced forgetting) [-W]
• Providing feedback after initial multiple-choice tests cut lure intrusions on final short-answer tests roughly in half, with immediate and delayed feedback equally effective [+W]
• More frequent exams are associated with better learning outcomes, including better grades and lower dropout, in classroom comparisons [+M]
• Pretesting before instruction enhances learning of subsequently presented material even when pretest answers are wrong, with multiple-choice pretesting more effective than cued-recall pretesting [+M]
• Competitive true-false questions can produce benefits similar to competitive multiple-choice questions for previously asked and related questions [+W]
• A systematic review of 50 classroom experiments found retrieval practice yields medium-to-large benefits in most cases, but only 6% were conducted in non-WEIRD countries [+M]
• Group testing shows advantages in some studies but mixed results overall for long-term retention and transfer [~W]

Related Strategies¶

• Frequent, Low-Stakes Quizzes
• Incorporating Methods for Self-Testing
• Low Stakes Quizzing
• Lecturers should implement online practice tests with automatically generated individual corrective item feedback and encourage steady participation
• Use true-false examinations with immediate self-correction and public display of scores as a time-saving teaching and assessment routine

Examples¶

-

Key Sources¶

• Dillon H. Murphy, Jeri L. Little, Elizabeth L. Bjork. (2023). The Value of Using Tests in Education as Tools for Learning—Not Just for Assessment. Educational Psychology Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10648-023-09808-3