MathematicsMaths10th, 11th, 12thYear 11, Year 12, Year 13
How to prepare students for standardized tests
How to run SAT, ACT or IB practice that meets each student where they are, from the student who is ready for the hardest questions to the one who freezes on the first, and how to see what the class still misses before test day.
Jemel Fanfan | Founding Member at Flint
"Using Flint for review for the end-of-unit test was optional, but all but two students chose to use it. Their performance on the test was noticeably higher than in previous years, so what I did with Flint definitely had an impact."
Lara Cross, Physics and Astronomy Teacher at The Kinkaid SchoolWhy this matters
In one SAT prep class, a student who is ready for the hardest questions sits next to one who blanks on the first. A shared practice test gives both of them the same 44 math questions, and the teacher finds out who froze when the scores come back.
Standardized test prep strategies that reach every student
Answering practice questions is one of the two study methods that a review of 10 common techniques rated most useful, for students of many ages and ability levels (Dunlosky et al., Association for Psychological Science).
- Start where each student's preparation is
- Guide students to the answer instead of giving it
- Go back to what the class keeps missing
No teacher can sit with 30 students and adjust every question for each of them. Sparky, Flint's AI tutor, does it in each student's chat.
One SAT Math question, practiced by two different students
Both students are in the same SAT Math activity on linear equations, and both get the same ticket question. Each has their own chat with Sparky.
Maya
Maya
I feel good about it. One-variable equations are easy for me now.
Sparky
Understanding check
Maya
B. I wrote a + s = 120 and 8a + 5s = 750.Sparky
Maya
k = 4. Then the second line is parallel to the first one.Sparky
Skipped the basics, solved a hard systems question
Jordan
Jordan
Nervous. I always blank on word problems.Sparky
Understanding check
Jordan
I don't even know where to start.Sparky
Jordan
120 tickets and $750.Sparky
Jordan
a + s = 120Sparky
Jordan
8a + 5s = 750. So a = 50. It's B.Froze, then wrote both equations and got B
Maya skips the one-variable equations and gets a harder systems question. Jordan answers the same ticket question one step at a time, and Sparky never gives the answer. The digital SAT also adjusts to each student: its second math module is harder or easier depending on how the student did on the first (College Board). The students and chats are examples we wrote for this page. If a student writes that they're going to fail, Sparky adds an alert to the teacher's Needs attention list.
How to see what the class keeps missing
Sparky grades each chat against your rubric. The activity page shows who needs help right now, what the class has down, and which skill to practice next.
Example activity page
After an SAT prep class works through linear equations
The school and students are made up for this page. Select a highlighted phrase in Activity analytics to open the chat messages behind it.
Create a follow-up activity builds a new activity for the skill the class missed, so the next practice session starts there.
Set up the activity for free
The SAT Math activity is in Flint's public library, with Sparky's role, guidelines, greeting and a rubric already written. Open it, select Try this activity to copy it into a free Flint account, and move it to a class. Every student gets their own chat with Sparky, and the activity page fills in as they work.
The same setup works for ACT Math, an IB Math paper or your own final. Change the guidelines, and attach your own past tests, notes and rubric in Guidelines for Sparky. Sparky sometimes gets a math step wrong, so teachers on our test prep Campfire session tell it to stick to their resources, and run Preview session at each rubric grade before assigning. Add this line to the guidelines once your files are attached:
Example guideline
Stick to the past tests, notes and rubric I attached. Take every practice question from them, and check each answer against my answer key before you reply.
For more test prep activities, see Flint for test prep.
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