Question for those using the 2008 edition of Notgrass American history

[ThelmaLou]

My son has been doing fine on the quizzes at the end of each unit. There's a test every five units, and it's short answer. I just graded his first one and he scored a 58%. Yikes! He's on the young side for this course (8th grade) Apparently, the old tests in the earlier edition were not short answer format. I was at a loss on how to tell him to study for it without telling him to go back and read all previous chapters. So he studied the previous quizzes, but that was about it. Has anyone else had trouble with their kids performing well on these tests? What conclusions should I draw about his performance? Help!
(I posted this on the K-8 board, too.)

[ThelmaLou]

Bump!

[vmsurbat]

Although my son didn't have any trouble (but he is a junior in high school), from comments on the EA yahoo group, a number of students did have trouble with the first exam.

Some suggestions:

1. Have your child study from the lesson questions (not just the weekly quizzes). This, in fact, is what I directed my son to do. The weekly quizzes don't cover enough material; the daily questions do. He spent one day's lesson on this.

2. If you/your child are energetic, you can make a study guide based on the exam questions.

3. One lady who teaches in a co-op situation, gives the students the exam open-book (over a weekend, I think), discusses the answers in class one day, and later (not sure how much later--next class or next week), they take the exam IN class, closed-book. The point is for the children to learn, not merely jump through "exam" hoops. If my son begins to have trouble with the exams in the future, I would opt for some variation of this....

So, your son is not alone in struggling with the cumulative exam, and the only conclusion you *should* draw is that now you have a teaching opportunity for your son to *learn how to study for an exam.* After years of elementary school with tests only covering the latest material, children won't automatically know how to review and study for tests covering more (several chapters, semester's worth) of material. They won't automatically know how to self-quiz from end of chapter reviews. They won't automatically know to make flashcards for vocabulary-intense studies. I had to teach one of my sons that he needed to make flashcards if he wanted to do well with Apologia's General Science course (vocab-intense). I am constantly telling my children to save their old tests/quizzes as an aid for studying. This is a skill to pass on while needing it. (A "workbook" won't help--it will just be a workbook). I think you and your son are just entering a new era of "school life" as you approach high school classes. Enjoy! :-)

HTH,

[ThelmaLou]

Thanks so much for the open-book suggestion. I received similar advice this a.m. from Mr. Notgrass himself. You're right--the point is that he's grasping the material. Having an exam over such a large amount of info. is new for him. Mr. Notgrass also said to consider giving him a portion of the 5-unit exam at the end of each unit and breaking it up over time. Then he could study from all of those and take the complete 5-unit exam again at the end of the 5th unit. My son did well on all the questions and quizzes, but for some reason the test was a real doozie for him. Thanks so much for your input.

Lisa