How to improve student test scores and get inside their heads

by Kelly Beischel PhD, RN, CAPP, APPC

Edited May 08, 2021

I’m a long-time believer in authenticity and transparency. In all things, really. Always have been. So, as you can imagine, it comes naturally to me to want to debrief teaching and learning activities.

Debriefing is a transparent reflection strategy, where team members reflect upon a recent experience, discuss what went well, and identify opportunities for improvement. The reflection can be about a case study, simulation scenario, patient outcome, writing assignment, or test.

In fact, in our simulation study, students indicated that debriefing was the most beneficial feature of the simulation.

I wonder if students would say the same for debriefing tests? (Wow, wouldn’t that be a great research question? Sorry, I can’t help myself. I think in teaching and learning research questions.) 🙂

In this series of articles concerning why students don’t score well on tests, we first discussed the use of cognitive wrappers, a reflection strategy that students use to examine their test performance and study strategies and to plan their improvement strategies.

Do not continue to read further if you do not wish to improve your test items, increase student learning, or prepare students for the ultimate test that will determine their entry to practice. 

Debriefing graded tests is a magical reflection strategy to examine why students didn’t score well on their tests and how to improve student test scores. Students and faculty connect, using this reflection strategy together.

Debriefing: Reflection Strategy #2:

I’ve witnessed (read here ‘participated in’) some hot debates about the practice of using class time to debrief graded tests with students.

As with most teaching and learning strategies, there are pros and cons of debriefing graded tests in class as a teaching strategy.

Pros of debriefing graded tests in class:

1. According to the Illinois Initiative on Transparency in Learning and Teaching, debriefing graded tests improves student learning experiences and future learning in humanities, STEM, and social science courses. This is especially true for low-income, first-generation, transfer, and non-traditional students.
2. Debriefing graded tests in class is a prime opportunity to teach students to think like a _______. (You fill in the blank: nurse, counselor, teacher, chemist etc.) And isn’t this the purpose of what we do? When they ask questions, BAM! You’re in. Now, use think-aloud teaching to illustrate the process of thinking like the professional you want them to be.
3. Do your students debate test items? If your answer was “Yes”? I say, “Rejoice”! They’ve just offered you a rare view into their thinking. The insight we gain when students think aloud about how they answered test items is priceless. We see their thinking process. Their false assumptions. Their ability or inability to connect the dots. And in turn, this enables us to guide them in how to answer higher-ordered questions, how to think about certain concepts, and guide students toward higher-level thinking.
4. Debriefing as a class saves you time. While this isn’t the most important reason to debrief in class, it can’t be denied. If 10 students come to your office to view their tests and you spend 15 minutes with each student, you spend 150 minutes on test review. Whereas, debriefing in class only requires 30 minutes.
5. Everyone (re)learns the sticky learning points at the same time. Have you ever been shocked that most students (even the top third of test scorers) missed a test item that you were sure they’d get? No? While I’m not proud of it, I readily admit that I’ve left class thinking I was spot on with my examples. Only to find that they took the example I gave about A and applied it to B.
   

   Ouch! Time for a re-do.

   Debriefing graded tests as a class activity allows us to clean up misconstrued ideas and address student learning needs as a whole.

6. Debriefing addresses the misnomer that testing is all about grades. You and I know that testing is actually a superb learning tool, right? Explaining this to your students puts the emphasis on the learning/relearning rather than the grade.Debriefing graded tests in class lead to valuable connection with students. Students have indicated that debriefing graded tests demonstrates that faculty prioritize their learning and that they value them as students. When is this ever a bad thing?

Cons for debriefing graded tests in class:

1. 1. Do you know the number one reason faculty have given me for not debriefing graded tests in class? “It decreases the time they have in class to present new material.” Yes. This is true. But, how do we move forward when the foundation on which we are building is like boggy quicksand? For instance, if they blow the test items related to assessment, how do we move to diagnosis when their understanding of the process of diagnosing is dependent on their knowledge of assessment?
   2. The second reason I’ve been hearing and reading in Faculty Facebook groups for not showing students their exams is fear that exam integrity will be compromised if students see their exams. If your students have a photographic memory, perhaps, but you still have control of changing up the test items. How is this any different than when they see the test while they are taking it?
   3. Faculty are often worried that classroom discussions about test items set them up to face a student mob. No worries. It’s an easy fix. Present debriefing ground rules prior to the debriefing.
   4. Debriefing in class can expose our insecurities. Yes, we prepare for questions. But you know students will come up with some doozies you haven’t even considered, right? For those questions, we model what it looks like to be accountable for what we don’t know and model how a professional finds the answer.This can actually be listed in the ‘pro’ column as well, don’t you think?

Do you debrief graded tests in class?

What has your experience been like?

Leave a comment below so we can all grow.