More testing, More Learning Essay

All students wish to finish their college year with a good grade. There is a lot to learn in every chapter of textbooks. Even if a student spends most of his time studying, he will get very stressed when a midterm or final comes. These exams will judge how well that student is doing for the whole entire semester. Patrick O’ Malley in â€Å"More Testing, More Learning† mentions that more testing provides students better learning opportunities because more testing forces students to have good study habits. It also helps students to focus on every unit in the textbooks and encourages them to learn from their mistakes. Providing exams more often makes students have good study habits. Students need good time management in order to balance between their college lives with their study lives. According to O’Malley’s essay â€Å"Greater frequency in test taking means greater frequency in studying for tests†. Giving students more exams is a way to keep them in track and force them to focus more on class. Although students are adults and should be able to manage their own lives, they still need a teacher to coach them. If professor gives students more frequency in-class exams, it will force them to do more practice and students will learn better. Having an exam at the end of the unit helps students deeply focus on what is in the classroom. There is a lot of information in a textbook and if students have a chance to have quizzes after the major chapters, it will help them to deeply understand the materials. From Patrick O’ Malley’s proposal â€Å" This solution would have the advantage of reducing students’ anxiety about learning every fact in the textbook, and it would clarify the course goals, but it would not motivate students to study carefully each new unit, concept, or text chapter in the course†. Students who understand the concept in their textbooks will do well in class and satisfy with their college lives. Having an opportunity to review the in-class exams benefits students to focus what they have missed. From O’ Malley suggestion â€Å"It makes sense that in a challenging course containing a great deal of material, students will learn more of it and put it to better use if they have to apply or â€Å"practice† it frequently on exams†. Student should be able to see how well they are doing in class before their major exams. Practicing with more exams releases students’ anxiety. Their lives are not depending on only one or two exams. More in-class exam gives students the opportunity to study and learn from the mistakes that they did in the past tests. Being a student is not easy. A good student is the one who can maintain the student activities, work and grades. There are many ways that professors can encourage students to study. Providing students more of the exams before midterm and final is a way to help student learn. More testing helps them to focus on the contents, decrease their anxiety, keep them focused in school and also helps students learn from their own in-class exam.