Whether you’re a U.S. history, welding, or culinary arts instructor (and everything in between), pretesting is your greatest asset. At Precision Exams, we encourage teachers to take advantage of our pretesting option at the beginning of every course. Starting off with a pretest is a terrific way to gauge student knowledge, prepare students for future content, and measure student growth throughout the course.
There are (at least) five reasons you should be pretesting with Precision Exams:
Access to Knowledge Standards: Precision Exams provides Knowledge Standards that have been created by education and industry experts. This is important. It means that business and education leaders come together and outline what students need to know when it comes to working in different professions. Teachers use our standards to create content and curriculum for their courses.
Establish a baseline of knowledge and proficiency: How else will you know what topics to cover in your syllabus? Pretesting prevents you from spending time teaching content your students already know. It allows you to prioritize subject-matter and provides direction for areas of focus.
Informative data for student improvement: When used in conjunction with our Proctor Standard Report, teachers can see where each student scores according to each standard. This. Is. Invaluable. This report shows which standards student excel in and where students need extra focus.
Measurement of student growth and effectiveness of curriculum: Have you ever reached the end of the year and thought, “What did my students actually learn?” This is where post-tests come in. Pretesting establishes what students need to learn; post-testing shows what they’ve learned. Our teachers rave about the Summary Suite Report that compares students’ pretest scores with their post-test scores. It’s encouraging to see actual data that shows how much students have improved. This allows teachers to know which teaching methods work best, and what can be improved upon for the next class.
Content preview and confidence builder for students: Many students are nervous test-takers. Especially when they don’t know what to expect, the layout of the exam, or what information will be covered. Pretesting gives students a preview of what’s to come. When students are familiar with the testing process, test anxiety decreases while the passing rate increases. We’ve also found that students who pretest remember the content and pay more attention to information being taught throughout the course.
When it comes to testing, we’re the first to admit that students are over-tested. Testing just to test is a waste of teachers’ and students’ time. That’s why we offer certifications that matter; certifications that have been created by business and education experts to prepare students for job readiness. Precision Exams Certifications have meaning. We work diligently with industry to ensure that our exams are not just another test, but a pathway that provides proof of knowledge and skills that leads students to college, jobs, and lifelong careers.