How Can Test Practice Be Incorporated Into the Classroom?
Dasha Bunks
Liberty University
PSYC 775 - Teaching of Psychology
Dr. Winn
2022
How Can Test Practice Be Incorporated Into the Classroom?
Although there has been a surge in programs that students can buy that claim to improve
learning and long-term retention, these can often be quite costly. Below we cover a number of
strategies that students can use during self-regulated learning that cost nothing. Students may already
incorporate some forms of testing into their self-regulated learning. One common study strategy that
students report is the use of flashcards during self-regulated learning (e.g., Hartwig & Dunlosky, 2012;
Wissman, Rawson, & Pyc, 2012) of basic facts and concepts. Flashcards naturally incorporate test
practice by having a question on one side and the answer on the other. So, students are prompted to try
generating an answer and then immediately checking to see if they were correct. Students also report
practicing with flashcards until items can be correctly recalled (e.g., Wissman et al., 2012).
As discussed above, research has shown that the long-term benefits of retrieval practice
improve as the number of correct recalls during practice increases. Therefore, students can incorporate
a powerful learning strategy into their self-regulated learning through use of flashcards, provided that
they continue to review information until they can correctly recall items multiple times at spaced
intervals. In other words, students should be encouraged to keep cards in their flashcard “deck” for as
long as possible and not to drop any cards out, to maximize the amount of information that is tested
(e.g., Karpicke & Roediger, 2008). Another way that students may already incorporate test practice into
their learning is by answering the questions that are often found at the end of textbook chapters. We
would recommend that students first answer each of the questions to the best of their ability without
looking up the answers and then check the accuracy of their answers. Students can also periodically stop
while they are reading a chapter and try to recall what they have read (and then check back for any
important information they may have missed).
Although we believe the long-term memory benefits from practice tests are reason enough to
widely incorporate testing into classroom settings, there are a number of other benefits of testing (see
also Roediger, Putnam, & Smith, 2011). As we have alluded to above, one important indirect benefit of
testing is that it helps both teachers and students immediately identify concepts or topics that are not
well known. This may be particularly beneficial for teachers because it will highlight information that
students are struggling with and may suggest that more time needs to be spent on a given topic. For
students studying on their own, it can highlight which information they need to concentrate on more
heavily. 87 Research has also shown that open-ended practice tests (like free recall of what students
know about a topic) improve student’s organization of information.
Compared to simply restudy, testing leads to enhanced organization of information, which aids
later retrieval (e.g., Zaromb & Roediger, 2010). The benefits of testing extend beyond the particular item
that is quizzed, showing transfer to other information that was not specifically tested during encoding
(e.g., Butler, 2010; McDaniel, Thomas, Agarwal, McDermott, & Roediger, 2013). As noted above,
researchers have become increasingly interested in the influence of practice tests on subsequent
learning (e.g., Arnold & McDermott, 2012; Pyc & Rawson, 2010, 2012). That is, does the act of taking a
test influence how well students learn information on study opportunities that follow the tests? Arnold
and McDermott (2012) showed that as the number of practice tests increases, the amount of
information learned during a subsequent study trial also increases. Similarly, Pyc and Rawson (2010)
showed that the effectiveness of strategies that students use to learn items is greater when students
engage in test practice versus study practice.
A wealth of research has established that practice tests enhance long-term retention. This
chapter reviewed a small portion of the research that has been done in the area and focused primarily
on studies done with educationally relevant materials. We offer some suggestions for how instructors
and students can easily incorporate practice tests into the classroom and self-regulated study. We
believe it is imperative to incorporate practice quizzes and tests as much as possible into the classroom
and selfregulated learning to promote long-term student learning and retention. For a recent guide
designed for instructors see “How to use retrieval practice to improve learning” (Agarwal, Roediger,
McDaniel, & McDermott, 2014).
References
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