We have all seen it. The kid that twists everything up in their mind. The one we root for. They circled the right answer. Erased it, circled a different one. Erased that. Circled the right answer. Erased it. Wrote a question mark in margin. And then forgets to answer the question.
Ugh.
And when you ask them about the question after the test is graded, they instantly know the answer. It is frustrating for you and for them.
Or have you seen this kid? The pressure to perform is suffocating. They stress over every question. You could ask them to spell their first name and they would anguish for minutes before answering. And then they run out of time.
I use a little training skill that I believe can help you train the kids to know how to appropriate the correct time allotment to each question. This is not a hard and fast rule, nor is it something that they do on every test, but through training, they get idea.
The Smiley Face Scale of Confidence
During a practice test, I will have them draw four very specific smiley faces in the margin that represent what they know about that question. What type of smiley they put helps dictate how much time they can spend on it.
The Smiley Face: I know that I know it. This is confidence. This is the question that the student knew was going to be on the test and they know how to answer it.
The Flat Face: I know that I can figure it out. The student may not know the answer by glancing at it, but they understand what the question is asking and the strategy to get to an answer.
The Frowny Face: I know that I should know it... but I don't. This is the type of question that is in the wheelhouse, but they missed it. They never connected the dots on that topic. They remember hearing the word, they never knew what it meant.
The Barfy Face: I have no freaking clue what is going on. The student is debating whether or not the question is written in English. They have zero connection to the topic. I know that this should never happen in your class, but just watch. Some of the things that you think you mentioned come out in the barfy face.
Once the students have identified the rating for each question I encourage them to allocate their time in such a way that gives them the best return on their effort. Again, this is not a hard and fast rule, but a concept that keeps them aware of what they are doing with their time.
Time Allocation By Smiley Face Category
Smiley Face questions get very little time. They know the answer. Write it down. Smile at yourself. Move on. Kids can spend too much time debating something they knew in the first place. Please know that I am not suggesting that the students rush these questions. They need to read it, understand it, and answer it. But don't spend more time than that.
Flat Face questions get the most time. Because the student recognized the strategy that it will take to answer this correctly, they should allocate the most time to getting these right. This might include a calculation. It might mean they have to balance an equation. But whatever work they put into it, they know it will return in points. Often times, students that mis-allocate time will not have sufficient time to answer this type of question, which is the question that proves to the teacher that they actually know what is going on!
Frowny Faced questions get a small amount of time. Since this is something that they have at least heard of, I encourage students to make connections to what they know. Let me give an example:
Which of the following elements has the lowest first ionization energy?
a. Li
b. Na
c. K
D Rb
Let's say that the student missed a chunk of time from your class, and has never heard of ionization energy. (I know they should have checked in with you, watched the video, read the lecture notes, etc but they didn't. Shocker) But this student recognizes a pattern of radius among those choices. They know that Li is small and Rb is big. I encourage students to take knowledge that they have, connect it to the unknown content and take the best guess. The best guess will likely be and a or d. The reason is that the question uses an extreme word, "lowest". Extreme words tend to lead to extreme answers. So a student that missed the entire part of the unit will have a 50/50 shot at answering the question correctly. And all of that takes very little time.
The Barfy Face gets a very small amount of time. Again, as a teacher we are praying this never happens. I want my students plugged in completely. I want them following along as we move through the content. But crap happens. For instance, I had an AP chemistry student that had 24 absences. (Please withhold judgment). That student wanted to take the semester final. They had tried to follow along with the College Board videos. But in reality, there were gaping holes. I'm afraid he had a lot of Barfy Face questions. (The student did not pass, but I am still rooting for him!) A student in a normal circumstance will have very few Barfy Face questions, but when they see one, they will apply a similar logic to the Frowny Face. Look for extreme words. Look for opposite answers. Look for extreme answers that also have their opposite. We test writers are suckers for putting answers like +176 kJ and -176 kJ. Chances are very high if there is an extreme word in the question and 176 is the most extreme answer, the student has a 50/50 shot. Again, 50/50 is not good. But a 50/50 shot after spending very little time will allow time for Flat Face questions that will have a much better outcome.
I always encourage students to do their best. I always want every question to be a Smiley Face. But the reality is that there are some sadder faces out there. And it is those students who we can help with their time management. And hopefully, after some training and practice, kids who were typically Frowny Faced at the end of a test that felt rushed can become Smiley Face kids after all.
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