Making dreaded exam practice a lot more fun!
 

In Hong Kong, from an early age, children have a lot of exams to take, and their workload can be quite repetitive and boring. I'm sure it's the same in many countries, especially as they get to secondary school.

Students groan at the sight of a past exam paper, and it also uses a lot of paper. So I've got a way to make it a bit more fun, and minimize photocopying too.

My instructions involve the use of a projector and a computer with powerpoint (as they have in hk schools) but i guess it can be done with an OHP instead, or even just writing on the board, although that would be tedious!

Preparation 1. Laminate some coloured cards with the letters A, B, C and D on them, at least 1/4 of A4 per card is better.

Prep 2. Make a quick powerpoint which consists of MCQs from past papers. Make sure each page only has one question, and includes everything needed to answer it. E.g. if there are 8 questions about a poem, make 8 slides with the poem + 1 question on each slide. (This is very quick if you have the computer version of the past paper... Try hkeea website for examples - I'll put a link later)

Lesson: First, teach any blovking vocab for the test.


Then, split the class into about 6 groups. Give each group a colour, number or name.

On the board, where there is room, draw a grid, with squares going from START to FINISH.

Give each group a set of cards, ABCD. Tell them, they will see a question, and they need to decide on the correct answer in their groups... Then they must hold up their answer A, B, C or D when you say.

First, let them read the text if necessary. Then show them the first question, and tell them they have 20 seconds to think. At the end of the 20 seconds say 3,2,1 GO. (And students must hold up a card)

Each group that got the question correct moves one space forward on the grid. The others stay where they are. If it's easy, explain the answer now... or if not, come back at the end and clarify all of the answers.

The kids will hopefully become quite competitive, and will find this a lot more exciting than a boring test.

Hope this helps!

Re: Making dreaded exam practice a lot more fun!
 

A good grammar game for test review is the Grammar Casino. You can add test review questions to the template and play with a large class or even just one-on-one. It makes test review a lot more exciting and fun for the students.

With each question you can take a bit of time to review the grammar and why the sentence was wrong or right. You can even have students make a few more bonus questions for the person next to them or for the whole class.