Increasing Student Engagement
Engagement in test prep must center on the individual student’s personal goals, so we’ve included a score goal worksheet you can use after administering the pre-test. Cambridge also offers Student Motivational Workshops to extend students’ understanding of the value of a graduate degree and the steps they will need to take to get into a graduate program.
We’ve also included some teaching tips to promote engagement. If you have any suggestions to add, email us at suggestions@CambridgeEd.com. We’d love to add your own creative ideas to this list.
Score Goal Worksheet
After you complete the pre-test, print and distribute this score goal worksheet for your students. You should also use their score goals as part of your grading rubric (see the information on grading below).
Score Goal Worksheet
Calculator Race
Divide the class into two groups: those with calculators and those without. Make sure students with calculators are only using the basic functions: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and the square root function. Announce “START” and wait to see which group finishes first. Even if the “no calculator” group doesn’t win, they won’t be far behind, illustrating the point that calculators aren’t needed for most items on the GRE. If you have time, review the explanations for the Calculator Race with your class. This is a good activity especially for students who haven’t taken a math class in a while.
Calc Race
Five Ways to be a Superstar Teacher
Use this list of tips to up your test prep game. These ideas are designed to help students practice big-picture thinking and to help you leverage each step of your course to keep your students engaged.
Five Ways to be a Superstar Teacher
Grading
If you’re looking for ways to keep students accountable, grading should be on your list. Here’s our recommended grading formula. Of course, you may modify this to suit your own preferences and/or school requirements.
- Growth from Pre-Assessment to Post-Assessment (G—30 percent)
- Homework Assignments (HW—30 percent)
- Attendance (A—20 percent)*
- Participation (P—10 percent)
- Quizzes (Q—10 percent)
These ratios translate into the following formula for final grades:
Final Grade = 0.3(G) + 0.3(HW) + 0.2(A) + 0.1(P) + 0.1(Q)
