I use a pre-test in the first week of my CMA Review class to see where the students' strengths and weaknesses are. This way I can gear the class to spending more timereviewing the subjects where the weaknesses lie.
A pre-test will help the instructor to understand where the students are at with regard to the class material. It gives the instructor an idea of the student's strengths as well as areas that need additional focus and effort. The instructor can then tailor the class and focus content on areas where more assistance is required.
really helps with complex subjects
By testing the students ahead of time you can alter the course as needed for the level of students attending.
I think that is the real value in a pretest. It would definitely help the instructor see what was not "learned" by the student....so you could take a step back and reassess your method of instruction or the content.
I have never used pretests but I think it is a good idea. I teach an advanced legal research class and students complete a unit 1 quiz that is the equivalent of a pre-test. I teach online and have heard from other instructors that unless the test is required, students will likely not take the test.
Pretesting is great to make sure they have the base knowledge where we start.
I used this in my Windows XP course two terms ago. Our course is mapped to gain the MCP exam and the exam questions are very challenging and require a lot of knowledge, reading ability, practical application, etc. I gave them a certification test as their pre-test. It was the most challenging test they ever took and it let me know exactly where they were at. I continued to use these types of tests as quizzes to get them ready for their cert test.
Pretests can help you set a baseline for the course. You will know where the majority of the students fall in regards to the course content and then you can plan the course content appropriately. This will help the students to not get bored with the content or to feel overwhelmed with the content.
You will always have students that fall outside of the baseline and it will be the responsibility of the instructor to keep those students engaged as well.
helps you the instuctor get a ideal where the student is
Krashen's i+1 is a good rule of thumb. It isn't just good for ELLs, but teaching in general.
Identify the base level of knowldege
find weak and strong areas
The test of teaching is the improvement in the performance of the student. Our goal is to have the solutions available for each student's teachable moments. Pretesting allows us to prepare for some of those teachable moments. If our instruction addresses goals that the student has already mastered, we are not maximizing the student's opportunities to grow. If we are answering questions that the student has not asked or expounding on concepts that are too difficult, we will not meet the course objectives. Pretesting can help the students to formulate their own questions and give them purpose.
This course discussion has inspired me to create a pretest.
What are the top 10 questions relating to the concepts of the previous classes that are building blocks for the current class?
Next becomes the challenge of how to make it fun so the first thing the students do when they come to class is take a test.
Helps to learn the knowledge level of the class so they are not bored by review.
I like to use pretest it shows me what the students already knows about the content and I can go from there with regards to lecture planning or small group discussion
Pretests help identify areas of needed instruction. As an instructor I can plan my focus based on the outcome of pretests.
I think the concept of using a pre-test is interesting. I do believe it would be a very effective tool in helping the instructor to get a working idea of where students are currently at regarding the content for the course. The problem I forsee however is how to avoid the pre-test demotivating the students. I teach rather complex scientific courses. Typically the students I have are not prepared for the entry level OR the advanced level courses. The material is not common knowledge to the general public in ANY way and the advanced courses suffer from students not retaining the material they learned earlier on in the curriculum due to its advanced nature. I don't really see a fix for this, the material is completely necessary for the field. In terms of the pre-test, if students show up to the class excited about what they are going to learn only to find out on day 1 that they are not at ALL prepared for the class...I personally know my students would simply shut off and become discouraged. I would get far LESS attendance because they would simply see how difficult this course is going to be and not feel prepared to tackle it. I don't know how I could make a class pre-test adequate for giving me useful information about their current level as an instructor yet not discouraging them at the same time. Feedback about this would be great!
I give quite a lot of quizzes which I use as an assesment of whether or not my students are learning the material. I throw out the lowest quiz score each quarter, but the quizzes do let me know what material needs to be covered in more depth or from a different angle.
