1. Retrieval aids later retention. There is clear evidence from psychological experiments that practicing retrieval of something after learning it, for instance by taking a quiz or test, makes you more likely to retain it for the long term.
2. Testing identifies gaps in knowledge.
3. Testing causes students to learn more from the next study episode. Essentially it reduces forgetting which makes the next related study area more productive.
4. Testing produces better organization of knowledge by helping the brain organize material in clusters to allow better retrieval.
5. Testing improves transfer of knowledge to new contexts. There are several experiments referenced in the paper where tests and quizzes help transfer and application of knowledge.
6. Testing can facilitate retrieval of material that was not tested. Surprisingly there are circumstances where quizzes or tests, particularly if delayed, can help people retrieve/retain information that was related to that asked but not actually asked in the questions.
7. Testing improves meta cognitive monitoring – by giving students scores or self-assessments, they can better predict their knowledge and be more confident about what they know and what they need to know.
8. Testing prevents interference from prior material when learning new material. If you have a test after learning one set of material before learning another set of material, it can make it less likely that the second session will
9. Testing provides feedback to instructors and lets them know what is learned or what is not.
10. Frequent testing encourages students to study. Having frequent quizzes and tests motivates study and reduces procrastination.
- You quickly identify where your strengths and weakness really lie.
- You get your worst blunders out of the way in your practice papers rather than the real thing.
- You practice writing papers by hand for three hours at a stretch (and simply building up the physical strength in your writing hand can prove valuable).
- You find out how much you can write in the time.
- You build up your self-confidence at tackling exam papers.
- If you do enough past papers, the chances are that some of the questions you face in the real exam will resemble some of those you've recently done for practice. You'll then find you have the basis of an answer fresh to hand in your mind.
- You start to acquire the knack of doing the type of paper you'll have to face for real.
- By the time you get into the exam room for the real thing, you'll be feeling "Here we go again" rather than "Eek! Panic!"
- The art of doing three-hour written exams is a perhaps rather artificial skill, especially for mature students who have become used to proving themselves in more real-life ways. But, like any other skill, it can be greatly improved by practice.
What Are The Positives In Doing Practice Exams?
1. They’ll help you to get into your “exam routine” so you’ll be ready to take ALL your stuff to the exams like ruler, pencil, eraser, calculator and whatever else you need with you on the day of each exam. Then you’ll know exactly what you’ll need in the real exams.
2. They’ll help you get used to the length of time you’ll have to do the real exams. You can work out where you wasted time doing questions and what you need to do to in your next exam so this doesn’t happen again.
3. They’ll help you get better at concentrating in exam situations. This is critical skill you’ll need when doing any exam.
You’ve got to be able to focus when you’re solving each problem and take a breather when you need to for a few seconds or so. Then you can refocus for the next question.
4. They’ll definitely show you the areas of Maths where you still need to do more practice. This is a huge benefit of doing any kind of practice exam under exam conditions. And then you can work on those areas before the real exam.
5. They’ll help you get used to exam pressure. There’s nothing like having a time limit on completing a task you have to get done.
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