TESTING POSTURE™ - AN ESSENTIAL STUDY SKILL
Testing Posture™ is a good example of a critical skill set I teach to help students prepare for their ACT or SAT that has much farther reaching benefits. It prepares them for any project or assignment in high school and beyond. It is a powerful mindset.
Let’s unpack Testing Posture™ and how it can help.
Planning: It all starts here. Intentionally asking some key questions is an essential starting point to making an effective plan.
What are the deadlines?
Can it be broken into smaller sections?
How many sections can you reasonably work through?
How much time does each part need?
Then, pull out a calendar and assign dates for each part. Add some buffer time for unexpected distractions, procrastination and peace of mind! I tell my students they need to plan for an appropriate amount of “fret-time!” Literally include it in the plan!
Procrastination: This is a beast for most students and the best way to beat it is with a plan! By attaching dates to their project or prep work, many students feel more accomplished -- and they should! But here’s where the mistake often happens. They settle for that sense of satisfaction from the planning work -- and don’t take action! Best way to avoid this? Plan rewards for each small bite size chunk that they accomplish in the plan. I usually do some exploring with them to discover what rewards they would most enjoy and look forward to. It helps motivation when they select an option from THEIR favorite ways to celebrate.
Distraction: This is the MOST difficult obstacle for students to overcome. It’s either Youtube, Instagram, Tik Tok, the dog, TV, music, siblings - or anything else. Acknowledging this with full transparency and creating a plan to win is essential! It can take some time for students to begin to experience the focus of a “horse with blinders on.” I encourage them to enlist help from family members at home if they can, or go somewhere more conducive to studying. It takes intentional discipline to turn off all the distractions -- sometimes even hanging a do not disturb sign helps.
Location: Where do they do the work? Are they on their bed, laying on the floor, slouching on the sofa while watching TV? A student told me once that she was doing her test prep homework watching the Oscars! Her practice test score that day reflected the poor testing posture she held! I recommend students find a good desk space to claim for their study time - whether it’s in their room, parents office, or the kitchen table. Adjusting this one thing, can impact results immediately.
Active Testing: This practice is an essential part of our coaching conversations that I get super specific about. My students learn to use their pencil liberally, circle key points, slash through answers they know are wrong, and annotate or draw pictures to help them locate information quickly. One of the phrases I repeat often is “never turn in a clean test!” Work ALL their thoughts out on the paper…. both in practice and on the real test day. As tutors, we know that students who engage with the content in this way do much better than students who rush and skim passages or read questions first. Across the board, incorrect answers are reduced with this strategy.
Cramming: This is a sign of poor Testing Posture™ and leads to a scrambled and unsure tester. Even a student who swears this works for them has admitted to me later that they never felt solid about their test answers and the stress of a ‘white knuckled’ test was horrible. We know that high stress and anxiety rarely leads to best scores, so addressing this directly with students is valuable for them. Helping a student find specific ways to work consistently over time in their preparation changes this dramatically. The old childhood story of the Tortoise and the Hare is a great metaphor of methodical, consistent effort giving the final win — no cramming!
Pacing/Time Management: Students who know their personal sabotage tendencies related to pacing, rushing, skimming almost always perform better on test day. Helping them understand where and when they are prone to make mistakes will create a personal strategy they can use for any momentous task - including test day.
Good Testing Posture™ creates more confidence, impacts performance and is a worthy conversation to have with students!