Teacher tests who is actually studying by giving her class the actual exam as a study guide, majority of the class still fails: 'Only about 30 kids out of 125 [figured it out]'

Who knew that studying would actually be the key to doing well?

This teacher made the preparation for her class's upcoming exam extremely easy. They just didn't know it.

When she assigned a study guide to complete for homework the night before the big day, she had hoped that her students would use it for final preparation. If they had, they would have found the test to be particularly simple. That's not only because the guide covered all the points that were fair game on the exam. It's also because the guide turned out to be the actual exam. 

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  • A portrait of a female teacher assisting a student in class.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    A portrait of a female teacher assisting a student in class.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • It was the same test. Word for word. Question for question. Not a single letter or period changed. Question order the same. Only thing changed was the title which said "Study Guide" then "Assessment". They did not know this was going to be their test. They truly thought it was just a practice.
    via watermelonlollies
  • It was the day before. I gave it to them and told them to use any notes they wanted on this study guide if they didn't know the answers by memory. I told them to work together. I told them if they really put in the time and effort to figure out the answers the test would be very easy tomorrow *wink*. I really stressed
    via watermelonlollies
  • that really if they didn't know the answers to a question to use all the resources at their disposal to figure out the answer so that they could understand it and be prepared.
    via watermelonlollies
  • A portrait of a female teacher assisting a student in class.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    A portrait of a female teacher assisting a student in class.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Yup, this teacher chose to change absolutely nothing about the exam, with the exception of her choice to rename the file as a study guide. Other than that, every multiple-choice question, essay prompt, and fill-in-the-blank section was the same… word for word. 

    Some readers probably will find the teacher's mentality to be deceptive. Others may find her approach not to be challenging enough. However, it's clear that the vast majority of her students regularly fail to complete homework assignments. She wasn't necessarily trying to get them to think critically about the material. She couldn't even get to that level of intellectual engagement with them because they wouldn't even attempt to do the homework. As a result, she felt that the best way to incentivize doing the work would be to trick them with this exam scheme. 

  • Most never did the study guide. They wasted class time and chose to chit chat. They said the test was really hard. I said "really? Was the study guide hard? If the study guide was hard that would have been a signal to study at home" they still didn't get it. Some did the study guide
    via watermelonlollies
  • but didn't put a lot of effort into it. So they recognized the test *was the study guide but didn't know the answers because they didn't care to check the answers for the study guide. They said it
    via watermelonlollies
  • wasn't fair. If I would have told them the questions were the same they would have done it. Not how it's meant to go.
    via watermelonlollies
  • A female teacher walks down the aisle of a classroom as her students take a test.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    A female teacher walks down the aisle of a classroom as her students take a test.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • The ones that actually did the study guide as intended got 100%. I could very easily tell who it was. A lot of kids you would expect but a few I didn't expect either. That was good to know.
    via watermelonlollies
  • But still only about 30 kids out of 125. Majority of the rest got 60%, 50%, some even got 30% or less. Not that that matters when the minimum grade I'm allowed to assign is 55%. So everyone got
    via watermelonlollies
  • 55% or above even if they only got one question right. Good luck to the teachers next year, you couldn't pay me enough to deal with this group again.
    via watermelonlollies
  • A female teacher walks down the aisle of a classroom as her students take a test.
    via Unsplash+ (Getty Images)

    A female teacher walks down the aisle of a classroom as her students take a test.

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • OK, well, based on the result of how the students did, it sounds like her “study guide” experiment did not work out this time. However, if this trick somehow convinces students in the future to do the homework before the next exam, even if it's just a slightly greater portion of the class, the scheme will have been worth it. 

    Now, do we think she should do this again for the next exam? Probably not, but she can at least recycle a few questions. Maybe the students will even know the answers to those if they actually take a look at the study guide this time around.

  • Independent_Box8750. At university our final chem exam was written by a teacher who was being made redundant. She did the exact same thing. I spent hours and hours on that practise exam, I nearly cried with joy in the proper exam lol. I knew alot of it by heart, it was such a nice experience lol. I even had a chance to thank her and she just laughed.
    via watermelonlollies
  • LookOver.... They're exactly right. It isn't fair. They got a huge benefit that set them up for an easy win and still S the bed. I do a similar thing sometimes but the instructions before starting is to scratch out "Study Guide" and write "test" in its place. As the ones who didn't try at all freak out, I just shrug at them and remind them of the 40+ times
    via watermelonlollies
  • they were reminded to put in their best effort on the study guide because it would make the test easy. Those that did do the work get to chill.
    via watermelonlollies
  • Edit to clarify: they have open notes and my support on "study guide day." The (hopefully) completed study guide IS the test -no rewriting or anything. Everyone gets the opportunity to go back over their responses to see if they need to elaborate or whatever during "test day". They
    via watermelonlollies
  • may or may not have open notes on that day (depends on the group). And I only really do it once a year max. By the time they're in 8th grade, most work hard on the study guides bc they know this could happen. And they tend to do well on other actual tests bc of it. Obviously those that never would have tried don't.
    via watermelonlollies

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