Comments on: Test-Taking Cements Knowledge Better Than Studying https://www.isegoria.net/2011/01/test-taking-cements-knowledge-better-than-studying/ From the ancient Greek for equality in freedom of speech; an eclectic mix of thoughts, large and small Sun, 07 Jun 2026 23:10:33 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.6.1 By: Isegoria https://www.isegoria.net/2011/01/test-taking-cements-knowledge-better-than-studying/comment-page-1/#comment-107848 Isegoria Tue, 25 Jan 2011 20:31:32 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=23356#comment-107848 I think we largely agree, but what’s interesting in this case is that the “test” was simply writing a free-form essay for 10 minutes. So the feedback was along the lines of “Wow, I didn’t remember much to write down,” rather than “D’oh! I forgot to account for xyz!”

]]> By: Aretae https://www.isegoria.net/2011/01/test-taking-cements-knowledge-better-than-studying/comment-page-1/#comment-107805 Aretae Tue, 25 Jan 2011 19:11:07 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=23356#comment-107805 I’d been thinking about it since I left my comment, and my original wasn’t correct. Let’s try again.

Aretae’s theory of education says: Practice is everything, but effective practice is composed of 4 items:

  1. Motivation
  2. Quantity
  3. Usefulness (practicing shoe-tying doesn’t actually help with Basketball, even if you practice a lot)
  4. Feedback

Quick map of their experiment to my theory is pretty easy. Test-taking encourages feedback. Re-reading doesn’t. Concept-mapping doesn’t.

]]> By: Isegoria https://www.isegoria.net/2011/01/test-taking-cements-knowledge-better-than-studying/comment-page-1/#comment-107676 Isegoria Tue, 25 Jan 2011 16:34:12 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=23356#comment-107676 This wasn’t a case of taking a practice test before taking the real test though. The practice test arguably wasn’t a test at all; it was retrieval practice: the students wrote what they remembered in a free-form essay for 10 minutes. Also, the real test wasn’t in this form. It was a short-answer test.

Further, when the students were asked to draw a concept map, those who had done the retrieval practice drew a more thorough map than those who had practiced concept-mapping.

So I don’t think it’s a simple matter of practicing the test you’re going to take.

]]> By: Aretae https://www.isegoria.net/2011/01/test-taking-cements-knowledge-better-than-studying/comment-page-1/#comment-107663 Aretae Tue, 25 Jan 2011 15:52:53 +0000 http://www.isegoria.net/?p=23356#comment-107663 The one-factor explanation: practice. If you are going to be taking a test, practicing tests makes you better at it.

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