Strategies for exam preparation and debriefing
Traditionally, we use exams as a way of assessing students’ mastery of course material. But what if we take a broader view of the role of exams in teaching and also consider them as tools for learning? Without losing sight of their assessment function, how could we incorporate strategies for exam preparation and debriefing in our courses to enable students to become better learners?
We offer strategies that instructors can use to help students prepare for exams and then learn from the experience by debriefing the exams. Each strategy includes a description of its purpose, examples, and suggestions for implementation.
Strategies for exam preparation
Strategies for exam debriefing
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Templeton, E. E. (2014). Crowd-sourcing examinations. The Chronicle of Higher Education.
This article discusses ways in which involving students in the design of exams, including the production of collaborative study guides, can help student performance. It offers an in-depth overview of a particular strategy, and the comments below the article provide many other useful strategies employed by teaching professionals in a variety of contexts.
Weimer, M. (2013). Exams: Maximizing their learning potential. Faculty Focus.
This article offers several different strategies for regular short review activities to integrate exam preparation into the classroom.
Weimer, M. (2016). Five ways to improve exam review sessions. Faculty Focus.
This article offers a great variety of different strategies for running better review sessions, as well as a few suggestions for linked debrief sessions.
Weimer, M. (2017). Group exams and quizzes: Design options to consider. The Teaching Professor.
This article describes some of the effects of anxiety on exam performance. It offers justifications for group-based collaborative assessment as well as several different techniques to implement collaborative assessment. The comments below the article are also particularly rich.
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