Spring is a time of testing for students in elementary school through high school. This time presents assessments such as the PSSAs and Keystone Exams. Sometimes, exam periods can be scary for a student, and that’s OK! If you’re not sure where to begin test preparation for these exams, a good place to start is to learn more about them, research how to prepare, and discover how your students can test well.
What Are the PSSAs?
The Pennsylvania System of School Assessments (PSSAs) are given each spring to students from grades three to eight in Pennsylvania to test areas of mathematics and English language arts. Students in grades four and eight take an additional assessment in the sciences.
For the English language arts areas, a student’s reading, writing, and comprehension skills will be evaluated. One of the most daunting sections for students can be the mathematics areas, which tests on numbers and operations, geometry and algebraic concepts, and more. Science sections include topics in natural and physical sciences, earth sciences, and biological sciences.
These tests are administered for teachers to identify which concepts and skills are more difficult for students so they can improve their engagement with those areas.
“The PSSAs are a diagnostic tool for schools to make sure the curriculum is aligned with state standards, not a test to determine if a student is passing or failing,” said Danielle Mariano, Chief Quality and Compliance Officer at Commonwealth Charter Academy.
Set by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as part of their core standards, the PSSAs determine where student skills should be at the end of the year for English and math. Further, these standards help ensure students have the skills and knowledge they need to thrive after graduation.
Overall, there are three types of questions that students will come across in the PSSAs:
- Multiple-choice: Multiple-choice questions provide a prompt and then have a student choose one answer.
- Open-ended: Open-ended questions ask the student to answer the prompt and explain their answer in their own words. Sometimes students will be asked “why” in their prompt to support their answer.
- Selected response: Selected-response questions have multiple parts for just one question, so students need to use context clues to answer the questions about the passage they just read.
Generally, these tests can last three to four hours, depending on the subject and grade level, but timing can be flexible if a student needs more time to test.
What Are Keystone Exams?
Keystone Exams are similar to the PSSAs and are given to high school students after they have completed select courses, typically in the spring. There are biology, literature, and algebra Keystone Exams. They include subject content from history, geometry, chemistry, composition, biology, algebra, and more.
These exams are included in Pennsylvania’s graduation requirements, so it’s essential that students study for them. Students will receive assistance in test preparation for the Keystone Exams from their teachers who normally begin to familiarize students with tested content earlier in the school year.
How to Prepare for PSSAs and Keystones
Now that you have more information, you can learn how to prepare your students for these exams with some PSSA study tips! These tips can help with PSSA and Keystone exam prep.
1. Understand the Test Format
It’s important for students to understand how the test is formatted before they go into it so they know what to expect. The English language arts section includes all three types of questions and will contain passages for students to read for some of those questions. It is important that the students attempt to answer the open-ended responses so they can obtain some credit for their answers.
“Even if you don’t know the answer to the question, answer every question anyway, because you’re not going to get points taken away for answering a question wrong,” Mariano said. “But you’re not going to get any points if you don’t answer the question. So at least if you answer it, you have a chance of getting it right.”
The mathematics and sciences sections include open-ended and multiple-choice questions. For open-ended questions, students can show their work or explain their reasoning even if the question does not require them to do so. It is important that students attempt all of the questions, answer every part of the question, and show or explain their work when possible.
2. Identify Student Strengths and Weaknesses
Next, think about your student’s strengths. Maybe they’re good at reading passages and using context clues to answer questions about what happened in the reading, but they might struggle with understanding math formulas. If you know that your students might need some help with certain subjects, you can ask for help from their teachers long before test day.
Flexible schools like CCA can help individual students walk through areas they are having difficulty with and provide resources to help practice those skills. Practice can help students build their confidence in those difficult areas, and it’s never too early to start reviewing.
3. Know What to Expect on Test Day
Students should view the code of conduct for these exams. Electronics such as cell phones and smartwatches are not permitted during the exams. Some math or science sections don’t allow calculators while others do. Teachers read instructions aloud before starting the exam and before some sections, so students must listen to them and read the instructions in their exam booklet carefully.
Other behaviors like sharing answers or cheating aren’t allowed, and instances of catching another student cheating should be reported to their teacher. Bringing notes to helpduring the exam also can count as cheating so do not allow your student to bring those to the exam.
4. Make the Right Preparations
Before the day of the exam, encourage your student to get a good night’s sleep. Many students find it hard to concentrate on their test problems if they can barely hold their heads up because they’re so tired. You can set your child up for a restful night by engaging in activities that relax you, like reading a book before bed.
11 Preparation and Study Tips for PSSAs and Keystone Exams
Standardized testing can be intimidating for students across grades. While students can learn from experience over time, having plenty of strategies can optimize their annual testing. Here are some additional tips to help your student ace their exams.
1. Eat a Good Breakfast
Start on a good note on the day of the test by eating breakfast. When students eat a hearty breakfast, they will have the energy and nutrients they need to support them through tests, while hungry students are more prone to forgetfulness and distraction.
2. Relax and Avoid Stress
Try to calm any worries that students have about the tests. Stressing too much does more harm than good. Instead, have the mindset that students are going to try their best, they can do it, and they are going to give as much effort as possible. Relaxed attitudes are infectious, so displaying positivity and stress-free attitudes can support students approaching standardized tests.
3. Answer Every Question
Remember that students aren’t penalized for wrong answers. Encourage students to try every question, and double-check their answers before finishing.
4. Read Every Question Thoroughly
Students should read questions carefully to ensure they understand what it is asking them before considering the answers. Some questions have tricky and misleading wording, like “not” and “don’t,” to measure how well students read questions and instructions.
5. Go Out of Order
Students can optimize their testing time by tackling the questions and concepts they know first. The long tests can be overwhelming for students, especially when they don’t know the very first question. Instead, you can encourage your students to skip around tests to fill out what they know first.
6. Use Other Questions for Answers
Sometimes, test questions can contain the essential information students need to answer tricky questions. It is natural for students to forget some information during tests or be unsure of what they remember. For knowledge-based exams like literature and biology, students can see if other questions on the test offer the information they need to respond correctly across the test.
7. Optimize the Tools Provided
Many state standardized testing offers online solutions to facilitate testing for students and faculty, allowing students to select their answers rather than spend time filling in bubbles. Further, online test-taking systems often offer more comprehensive tools for students to use, like highlighters, pens in different colors, rulers, calculators, and more. Students can use these resources to cross off answer choices or highlight essential instructions and materials.
8. Know the Power of Scratch Paper
Some schools allow students to use scratch paper on standardized tests. Students who are tactile and kinesthetic learners can benefit from these resources because they can organize their thoughts and work through problems as they progress through tests. On essay standardized tests, like English writing exams, scratch paper can help students organize their thoughts and plan their essays before they start writing.
9. Eliminate the Wrong Choices
For multiple-choice standardized tests, students will have many choices to choose from. While some answers might be similar or close to the right one to trick students and test their knowledge, others can be eliminated easily. By crossing off these answer choices, students can better focus on determining which one is right. For example, a biology Keystone might ask students to select the functions of a cell’s organelles, but two of the answer choices are properties of regular organs.
10. Prepare for Different Types of Questions
Standardized tests evolve with technology and educational studies. Many tests include questions where students have to write or type in answers, select all that apply, drag and drop answers, or graph information alongside the traditional essays and multiple choice assessments. Reviewing strategies and familiarizing themselves with these questions can leave students more prepared for their standardized state tests.
11. Try Positive Affirmations
Tests can be stressful, regardless of how much students study. Many students focus on results, putting pressure on themselves to score proficiently and pass the state standards. However, students might also take scores as a reflection of their intelligence. Positive affirmations can help students stay positive and relaxed going into the testing environment. Try offering sayings like: “I am enough,” “I have the tools to succeed,” or “I believe in my skills.”
Parents and teachers can support their students by showing them various techniques in the time leading up to state standardized tests. Like studying, test-taking strategies can help students get the test results they need to pass their exams.
CCA Has the Support and Resources You Need
To do well on these exams, students need to focus and put time into preparing for them. No matter if your students are in need of PSSA or Keystone test preparation, the CCA family is here to ensure that enrolled students have the support and resources they need to do their very best.
