REFLECTIONS ON POST-EXAM REFLECTIONS: USING EXAM WRAPPERS AT A TWO-YEAR COLLEGE

Over the past four semesters, students in intro geology class at Bergen Community College have been asked to fill-out exam wrappers at the end of their tests. These post-exam questionnaires are designed to help students reflect on how they prepared for the tests and how they might improve their study skills. They are done twice: immediately after completing the test and again after having the graded tests returned. In the first case, students are asked how long they studied, using what resources, as well as how prepared they felt at the start and end of the test. In the second, they are asked again if they think they were adequately prepared and how they might study differently for the next test. They are also asked how the group part of the test and an instructor-provided review sheet helped them. Finally, they are asked what else I might do to help them.

Overall, students reported studying an average of 4-7 hours over about 3 days for each test, with no appreciable changes over the semester, despite their recognition that their study skills need improvement. As for resources, the most used was reviewing their own notes, accounting for 25-37% of their studying time. Next was reading the textbook (~30%), both re-reading relevant sections and reading them for the first time. Using materials from the CMS was also popular, with students reporting using ~20% of their time doing so. This was not using a single resource, however, as these included lecture slides, links to websites, reading quizzes, and review sheets. As for feeling well-prepared, on average students reported a value of 6.8 out of 10 when walking into the exam, as compared with an average of 5.6 when finished. Once the exams were graded and returned, this fell even more, to 3.8. When it came to using the review sheet, students reported an average usefulness of 8.6, and they reported a value of 7.5 for having the group portion of the exam help them understand the material better. As for what I might do differently to help them, students were split between my doing “nothing different” and having a review day before the test. The latter, coupled with feelings that the review sheets are not “specific enough,” indicate that many, though not all, students want to be told exactly what will be on the exam, thus having me “teach to the test,” rather than my helping them to understand the topics as broadly as possible.