Reviewing the Test

or 

Why the day after the exam 

may be more important than the exam itself

When I first began teaching, returning exams gave me the most intense anxiety.  First, I was still unsure of myself as an expert in my subject, and as such, feared that my ability to justify correct answers would be woefully inadequate should a particularly pugnacious student decide to debate me. Second, I felt like most students didn't actually care about what they got right or wrong, they just wanted to know the grade. I would return exams and feel equally relieved and frustrated that no one seemed to want to discuss it.

But my training in Ed Psych reminded me that reviewing an exam after the fact was an absolutely vital part of the learning process.  Students realizing what they got wrong--and why--remains one of the most important steps in building one's knowledge base.  Perhaps more importantly, it promotes metacognition.

Metacognition, succinctly described as "knowing about knowing", remains one of the most critical components in the learning experience. First proposed as a concept in 1976 by John Flavell, to have metacognition means that you have knowledge about how you learn and are able to apply that knowledge in order to achieve a learning goal.  Educational psychologists describe metacognition as those processes the students engage when they are planning, monitoring, and evaluating their own learning behaviors. It's what we refer to as a type of higher order thinking in which the student actively thinks about what they're doing, how they're doing, and what they need to do next in order to improve.  Flavell (1987) proposed that it consists of three variables:

• Knowledge-of-person variables: this is when you know what works for you in relation to memorization, or how you know you're better at Math than you are at English. This variable requires that the student regularly engage in self-evaluation.
• Knowledge-of-task variables: if you know that you are going to have set aside more time than you usually do in order to get the research paper in Psychology completed on time, then you are showing knowledge-of-task.
• Knowledge-of-strategy variables: whenever I receive an email from a student telling me that they've looked over the next writing assignment and needed some clarification before they begin, I know this student is trying to figure out a strategy for how to approach this assignment.  I love this, because it shows knowledge-of-strategy (and it also shows knowledge-of-person because they recognize when they don't understand something).

Engaging in purposeful thinking and goal setting is  associated with more favorable academic outcomes and the lack of it is associated with an inability to recognize when you need help (Dunning, Johnson, Ehrlinger, & Kruger, 2003).  Students who engage in academic material with the intent to "deeply comprehend their information tend to be successful in their academic performance" (Coutinho, 2007, p. 44).  Engaging deeply and setting goals requires metacognition.

Many students enter college without a true understanding of what they know, what they don't know, what they need to know, and how to get there.  In the immortal words of Donald Rumsfeld, "there are unknown unknowns, the ones we don't know we don't know." Most of us who teach have heard the line "I'm studying so I don't know why I'm not doing well" so many times that we can almost predict it's going to come out of a student's mouth when they show up in our office.  It's equally frustrating for both of us.  So, what can we do?  

Well, if your college is like mine, it probably offers tutoring services, note taking workshops, and other stand-alone type of metacognition-boosting services.  But if, like me, you teach at a community college, you know that your students are working, often raising families or taking care of parents or grandparents, and time spent outside of class is valuable and fleeting.  So I want to make sure that my time in class is not just spent on psychology concepts, but also on the very act of learning itself, and in coming up with ways to do this, I began engaging in a post-exam-review activity that I have come to believe is one of the most valuable components of my class.

First let me state that this doesn't always happen during the class session immediately after the one in which the exam was taken. Students have a tendency to skip right after an exam, so sometimes I wait until another class period has passed before I return the tests and begin the activity (grades are posted on the LMS fairly soon, so at least they know their current score). These are the instructions I give:

"I'm going to call your name to return your exam. When you come up to get your exam, please grab an exam packet and return to your seat. Begin reviewing your exam in order to see the questions you got right and the questions you got wrong. Identify 3 questions (note: sometimes I let them do up to 5) that you missed. Do you know why you missed them? Now that you can see the correct answer, do you think you understand a bit better?  Next, find someone in class who got those questions right (it doesn't have to be the same person for each question!) and ask them to explain to you the reasoning they employed when selecting the correct answer. Consider what is/was different from your approach.  If you weren't sure why the correct answer was correct when you first reviewed your exam, are you sure now? Once you have engaged with your classmates, I want you to write a brief explanation for each of the questions you chose for this exercise and tell me why you picked what you picked, and then write a sentence that shows me you now understand what the correct answer is. Lastly, if you think you might do something differently to prepare for the next exam, briefly tell me what that might be.  Submit this sheet to have those points returned to your exam score."

I give the students about half the normal class time to do this, and most require it. If a student is particularly uncomfortable with engaging with other students, I also offer myself as the person they can come talk to. I do not require this activity--students who are not at all comfortable with sharing details of their exam with other students are free to talk to only me and/or just submit in writing their explanations showing they understand the correct answer.  My hope, however, is that students see the value in conversing with their classmates about the concepts and that they see that others may be struggling with the same things they are.

What is the metacognitive value in this activity? First, students must actively engage with their own exam; they must look at and re-read the questions they got wrong and think about why they chose what they did rather than just passively listen while I review. Second, almost every student gets the opportunity to be the "right" answer person and explain to someone else why they selected the answer they did.  This is especially empowering and helps them connect their study habits with success. Finally, the last act of the activity is considering what they might/could do differently next time. In a very brief period of time, they are learning about the concepts, themselves, and potentially new strategies.  

This is one of the most popular activities in my class and the students love it, and I'd like to believe it's not *just because* of the chance to earn back points. They seem to genuinely enjoy talking about the material with their classmates, and over the years, many have commented that hearing it from another student gives it just enough of a difference from my explanation that it clicked. It's a wonderful experience in humility for me as well, as I often overhear a student explain a concept in a unique way that is better than how I normally explain it!

I may teach psychology, but I'm also in the business of helping students learn how to learn as well as learning about themselves as learners. My class should be a place that is more than just a collection of psychology facts; it should be a place where students feel safe to make a mistake, because making a mistake is just a step on the way to getting it right. 


References:

Coutinho, S. (2007). The relationship between goals, 
    metacognition, and academic success. Educate, 
    7(1), 39-47.

Dunning, D., Johnson, K, Ehrlinger, J., and Kruger, J.     
    (2003).  Why people fail to recognize their own  
    incompetence.  Current Directions in Psychological 
    Science, 12(3), 83-87. 

Flavell, J.H. (1976). Metacognitive aspects of problem 
    solving. In L.B. Resnick (Ed.), The nature of 
    intelligence. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Flavell, J.H. (1987). Speculations about the nature 
    and development of metacognition. In F.E. Weinert 
    & R.H. Kluwe (Eds.), Metacognition, motivation, 
    and understanding. Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

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