Teaching Strategy Tip #29

Review with Exam Wrappers*

Strategy: Exam Wrappers direct students to review their performance (and the instructor’s feedback) on an exam to adapt future learning.

Time: Allot time for individual review and general discussion in the session after an exam

Materials: Returned exams
Questionnaire (“exam wrapper”) with three questions

Process:

  • ✓ Students complete the questionnaire in the class session after the exam:
    1. How did you prepare for this exam?
    2. What kind of errors did you make?
    3. How will you study for the next exam?
  • ✓ The “exam wrappers” are collected before the class session ends. The instructor may want to review students’ responses to gain insight into students’ learning and see if there are patterns.
  • ✓ When students should begin studying for the next exam, the instructor returns the completed exam wrappers.
  • ✓ The cycle is repeated with each exam, with guidance on preparation, based on the results of the “exam wrappers”:
    • a. When did you study? Did you start at least five days before the test?
    • b. What study strategies were used? How did you:
      • i. Review notes and their explanations?
      • ii. Solve practice problems?
      • iii. Re-read the textbook?
    • c. The type of errors made (identify components):
      • i. Did you read the question carefully?
      • ii. Did you set up the problem correctly?
      • iii. What concepts involved did you understand? Not understand?
      • iv. Where did you make mistakes?
      • v. What patterns do you observe?

* Adapted from Lovett, 2013

Source: http://fc.short.cm/ReviewWithExamWrappers