In the past, when our classes were 50-minutes in length, we would have full-period Unit tests for AP Psych. To mirror the question-to-minute ratio of the AP test, we’d have 70+ multiple-choice questions; with our new, 80-minute class periods, we don’t want to have full-period Unit tests — that’d be brutal!
During a school-wide evacuation test, Yosup and I, who share responsibility for one section of students, figured out a plan for test days.
I’ll probably give students 5-minutes on the clock to look over their notes at the beginning of class, and review with friends and neighbors. Then they’ll take their test for 40-minutes. After their test, Yosup and I will project on the screen (using AppleTV, our iPad, and the Notability app) five of the most commonly missed questions on the test, which we’ll go over with the students. Following that brief review of some key concepts from the test/ previous unit, we’ll introduce the next. (As an aside, the reason for reviewing only five questions from the test is that we don’t want the correct answers to more than those to somehow spread to the other sections of AP Psych, which haven’t yet taken the test.) After the briefest of introductions to the next Unit, we’ll do a demonstration for the remainder of the class period. This demonstration will be engaging and illustrative of a wide range of topics to be covered in the next unit.
On Monday, for example, our students will have their first unit test, covering the history of Psychology and its research methodologies. Following that, we’re going to do the “squeeze test” demonstration for NeuroPsych. This common demonstration in Psychology classes around the world involves students receiving from one and then passing a “message” to the next neighbor by way of a hand-squeeze. (It doesn’t sound exciting, but it’s pretty fun and pretty funny.) We’ll be able to tie this demonstration into neural communication and neurotransmitters, cognition, and nervous system delineation.
So, that’s the plan for Test Days.