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Science6th, 7th, 8thYear 7, Year 8, Year 9

How to prepare middle school students for end-of-year exams

How to turn each unit's notes into a practice test for the end-of-year exam, in any subject, so every student in grades 6-8 practices the questions the exam will ask and hears right away what their answer is missing.

Jemel Fanfan

Jemel Fanfan | Founding Member at Flint

Title card reading 'How to prepare middle school students for end-of-year exams', next to three students' cards from a practice test on physical and chemical changes: a student who added the reason to an Explain answer, a student moved up to an Evaluate question, and a student who fixed a wrong answer after rereading a section of the notes.

"I started using Flint last year. I created quizzes for middle school science and math and later made IB-style questions. I learnt that if I add some resources and provide as many details as possible, Flint can create better and better tasks."

Sanjeev SharmaSanjeev Sharma, MYP and DP Science and Math Teacher at Changchun American International School

Why this matters

A grade 7 end-of-year science exam covers every unit since September. A student who answers an Explain question with one word loses the marks for the reason, and the teacher finds out when the graded exam comes back.

How practice tests prepare students for end-of-year exams

Students who take a practice test remember more a week later than students who reread their notes (Roediger and Karpicke, Psychological Science).

  1. Write one practice test per unit, from your own notes
  2. Ask the way the exam asks
  3. Respond to each answer before the next question

A teacher can't read 30 answers as students write them. Sparky, Flint's AI tutor, replies to each answer in the student's own chat.

One unit's practice test, taken by two students

Both students take the same practice test. Each chat below starts where Sparky moves the student up a question type.

Sparky asks for one step instead of giving the answerSparky starts from what the student already knows
A

Ava

Feeling: Studied the notesStarting point: Knows the facts, leaves out reasons

Sparky

Two correct State answers in a row, moving up! Explain why melting ice is a physical change.

Ava

physical

Sparky

That's the answer, but an Explain question needs a reason too. Finish this sentence: "Melting ice is a physical change because…"

Ava

I don't get what makes it physical and not chemical. Can you show me?

Sparky

Click Watch on each panel, then try again: Explain why melting ice is a physical change.
An interactive Sparky made in the chat, titled Physical vs. Chemical Change. Two panels, each with a Watch button. Physical change, melting ice: the ice cube has melted into a puddle labeled H2O, with the caption Still water! No new substance. Chemical change, baking soda and vinegar: a glass with CO2 gas rising, with the caption New substance formed: carbon dioxide (CO2). Below, a question: Which change makes a new substance? with Physical and Chemical buttons.
InteractivePhysical vs. Chemical Change

Ava

Melting ice is a physical change because it is still water, no new substance forms

Sparky

That's correct! Great explanation.

Added the reason after trying the interactive

O

Omar

Feeling: Ready for the testStarting point: Gives reasons without being asked

Sparky

Two correct Explain answers in a row, moving up to the hardest level! Evaluate this claim: "If you see bubbles, it must be a chemical change."

Omar

I agree

Sparky

You've taken a side, but an Evaluate answer needs evidence on both sides. Can you give one example where bubbles don't mean a chemical change?

Omar

I can't think of one. Can you show me a short video about it?

Sparky

Watch that video, then try again. Give evidence for and against the claim, then make a conclusion.
The opening frame of a 65-second narrated video Sparky made in the chat, titled Do Bubbles Mean a Chemical Change? A hand-drawn pot of boiling water and a fizzing glass of baking soda and vinegar, with question marks between them and Sparky in a lab coat.
VideoDo Bubbles Mean a Chemical Change? · 1:05

Omar

I disagree. Baking soda and vinegar bubbles are carbon dioxide, a new substance. Boiling water bubbles are just water vapor, still water.

Sparky

Excellent! That's a complete Evaluate answer.

Gave evidence on both sides after the video

Sparky built the interactive in about 40 seconds and the video in under 2 minutes, during test runs of this activity. The students are examples, and the chats are shortened from those runs.

See what the class still misses before the exam

Sparky grades each chat against your rubric, and the activity page shows what to review before the exam.

Flint's activity page for an activity called Physical and Chemical Changes: Unit Test Practice. Needs attention shows a live alert that one student wrote 'I'm going to fail the final' after two wrong answers. Activity analytics lists what the class does well, including State questions on evidence of a chemical change, an area of improvement where 8 students answered Explain questions without a reason, and a follow-up with a button to create a follow-up activity. The Sessions table shows two submitted students graded Proficient and Developing and one still in progress.

Example activity page

After a grade 7 class reviews one unit for the exam

The school and students are made up. Here the class knows the facts, and the skill to practice is giving the reason.

Set up the activity for free

The practice test is in Flint's public library, with the notes, guidelines and rubric already in it. Open it, select Try this activity to copy it into a free Flint account, and move it to a class.

Make one copy per unit on the exam. In Guidelines for Sparky, select Add attachment(s) to add that unit's notes, slides or past exams, and list your exam's question types, such as Identify, Explain a cause and Use a source for a history exam.

The library copy only asks questions. For the interactive and video in the chats above, delete "teach or" from "Do not teach or test anything that is not in the notes" and add this line:

Example guideline

When a student is stuck on an idea from the notes, you may make one small interactive or a short video that shows it, using only facts from the notes, then ask the same question again.

For more test prep activities, see Flint for test prep.

Start the activity for free

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