Skill #2 For Test Prep

A while back, I outlined skill #1 for test prep, which is "Read the Question".  I've had a hard time articulating Skill #2, but I've been practicing with my Parent Forum and I think I'm ready.  Brace yourself.

Skill #2 : Get Problems Wrong

The general consensus on learning is to keep kids in the learning zone where they have some competency and can apply it to a stretch problem.  The teacher provides scaffolding, the child learns, and everyone is always happy.

When we do test prep, academic work, or other important life activities, I'm generally looking for my kids to screw up and get things wrong.  I choose material with this in mind.  This is a really counter intuitive parenting and academic coaching but it is, in the end, the way to go.  Everyone is not always happy.

When I do test prep, I'm much more interested in material that is way, way, way over their heads and mistakes and wrong answers are the norm.   There were two things that motivated me.  First, it seems way more efficient to cut out all of the stuff they already know and just concentrate on the stuff they don't know.  Secondly, when I studied for the GRE about 100 years ago, I consistently got 50% or more wrong on practice tests leading up to the big event and managed to get way over 99% on the test.  This was back in the day when there were 193,234 vocabulary words on the test.

It turns out that there is very solid logic behind this approach as it applies to cognitive ability tests like the COGAT.  These tests aren't looking for children trained at getting lots of problems correct.  These tests are designed to find thinkers who can come up with an action plan when things aren't going well, who can navigate the unknown.  The tests are designed to lead the child into an answer set that doesn't have the answer the kid is looking for, or doesn't have one clear answer.  As far as I can tell, there is very little content in a test prep book that is anything close to the actual test.

When your child is used to getting things wrong, good things happen:

1. The child is not bothered by failure.
2. The child learns to go back to the question and read it again.
3. The child learns to just plod through options one at a time to find the right answer.
4. The child learns to mistrust questions, to be suspicious and skeptical of answer sets.
5. The child learns a bunch of survival skills that aren't learned on an arithmetic worksheet.

These are the qualities of a good inventory, scientist, or researcher.  These are the qualities of a good student.  This is the stuff of which grit is made of.  These are the qualities that make for a high test score.

There are downsides to this approach.  First, it takes a few months for both the child and the parent to be deconditioned of the normal approach of spoon feeding the kid concepts and then expect perfection on lots of routine, easy, boring problems.  This can be a time for whining, complaining, arguing, and sometimes shouting on the part of the parent, not to mention the child.

The second downside is that when you have a kid who is unafraid to work ahead 5 or 6 grades, normal academic work is really a downer and bad grades on easy tests might result.  I'm personally hoping that by middle school or high school the material rises to meet the skill set.  Fortunately, 4th grade math scores don't show up on a college application.  If anyone has an answer to this problem, please share.

If your child consistently scores below 50% on material or workbooks that I recommend for test prep, now you know why.   This is exactly why I recommend the material.