Test-Specific Thinking: Teaching Students to Think the Way Tests Make Them

In Test-Specific Thinking, the authors provide recommended practices, methods and means for educators to implement structural schemas into teaching, helping students better prepare for tests and formulate stronger responses to certain question frames. Armed with a better understanding of how tests are designed, teachers will increase their students’ chances of success with higher achievement scores and greater confidence when taking standardised exams.

K–12 teachers and school leaders can use this book to:

• Examine recurrent structural patterns common in English and mathematics assessment questions.
• Break down sample test questions to identify the skills or response a certain frame seeks.
• Incorporate test item structures into classroom teaching to better prepare students as test takers.
• Develop and design assessments that familiarise students with the frames they will encounter on external exams.
• Boost student confidence and increase performance on standardised tests.