Retakes And Revisions¶

Strategy · All strategies
Evidence · 2 claims (2 for) · 8 studies (5 quant-synthesis, 2 causal, 1 review), q2–q4 · 4 of 8 report an effect size

Description¶

Retakes and revisions give learners a structured second attempt at demonstrating competence: after an assessment or submitted work, learners receive feedback, engage in targeted remediation, and then retake the assessment or revise the product. The revised result typically replaces the original grade (or the higher of the two), so the final score reflects eventual mastery rather than first-attempt performance.

Design Implications¶

Retakes and revisions operationalize Assessment for Learning: the assessment cycle produces information that drives further learning rather than terminating it Formative assessment practices improve achievement. [+S]. The strategy only works when the gap between attempts is filled with meaningful remediation — feedback alone, without a required corrective activity, produces little improvement. Because the retake itself is a second testing event, it also adds a retrieval practice opportunity, which strengthens retention of the reassessed material Distributed practice improves retention. [+M] when attempts are spaced rather than immediate.

Context¶

Requirements¶

• Specific, actionable feedback tied to the original performance (Action-oriented feedback or Feedback commentary)
• A required remediation step between attempts — re-study, targeted Practice, or error analysis — not just a re-test
• A clear grade policy: replacement, averaging, or best-of, communicated in advance
• Parallel forms or revised prompts to prevent memorization of answers on retake

Constraints¶

• Unlimited immediate retakes with no remediation encourage guessing and shallow first attempts [~M] — learners defer effort, knowing a retry is free
• Averaging old and new scores dampens motivation to revise; replacement policies produce stronger effort [~W]
• Revision of products (essays, projects) without feedback on what to revise leads to surface edits (word changes, not conceptual improvement) [-M]
• High-stakes standardized contexts may prohibit score replacement, limiting the strategy to formative use

Implementation Variability¶

• Test corrections: learners explain why each new answer is correct — a hybrid of retake and error analysis
• Mastery quizzing: platforms like Khan Academy and DeltaMath regenerate parallel items until a mastery threshold is met
• Draft–revision cycles: writing instruction with staged drafts and instructor or peer feedback before final grading
• Best-of windows: multiple low-stakes attempts across a unit, with the highest score counting

Target Learners¶

• Learners with gaps in prior knowledge who need a second pass after remediation Formative assessment practices improve achievement. [+S]
• Anxious or slow-starting learners whose first attempt underrepresents their competence
• Less beneficial for learners already at mastery, for whom retakes add little and consume time [~W]

Target Learning Goals¶

• Mastery of foundational skills and procedures where accuracy matters (mathematics, language mechanics, safety protocols)
• Quality improvement in extended products (writing, design, code) through iterative refinement
• Self-regulated learning: learners practice interpreting feedback and planning their own remediation

Instructions¶

1. Administer the initial assessment or collect the draft under normal conditions.
2. Return specific, criterion-referenced feedback identifying the gap between performance and the target (Assessment).
3. Require a remediation activity — error analysis, targeted Practice, or re-study of Procedural Information — before a second attempt is granted.
4. Schedule the retake or revision deadline with spacing from the first attempt to strengthen retention Distributed practice improves retention. [+M].
5. Replace or improve the original score per the published policy; cap attempts (typically two) to preserve first-attempt effort.

Related Strategies¶

• Mastery Learning — the broader system in which retakes are the standard mechanism for reaching criterion
• Standards-Based Grading — grading philosophy that makes score replacement coherent, since grades report current competence
• Test-Enhanced Learning — retakes double as additional retrieval events
• Negotiate learning contracts at the start of term and allow test retakes until mastery

Examples¶

• Khan Academy — mastery exercises regenerate parallel problems; learners retry until reaching "mastery" level, with hints and instruction available between attempts.
• DeltaMath — teachers enable "test correction" assignments that generate new problems targeting the skills a student missed.
• Two-stage exams (popularized in University of British Columbia physics courses, https://cwsei.ubc.ca) — students complete an exam individually, then immediately retake it in groups; the group stage functions as an immediate, feedback-rich revision.

Key Sources¶

• Guskey, T. R. (2015). How you grade affects how students learn. In On Your Mark: Challenging the Conventions of Grading and Reporting. Solution Tree Press.
• Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7–74. doi:10.1080/0969595980050102
• Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x
• Kulik, C.-L. C., Kulik, J. A., & Bangert-Drowns, R. L. (1990). Effectiveness of mastery learning programs: A meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 60(2), 265–299. doi:10.3102/00346543060002265