Help with Testing in Foerster Algebra 1

[daybreaking]

My son is doing Foerster's Algebra 1 this year and has easily mastered the concepts without struggling with any of the lessons. However, when it comes to the end of the chapter "Chapter Review and Chapter Test," its a real challenge, in that they are taking an extremely long time for him to complete. On the most recent one, it took him over three hours to complete the test, with my husband periodically checking in on him. I'm at a loss what to do. Has anyone experienced this and/or does anyone have any suggestions?

[daybreaking]

*bump*

[Tidbits of Learning]

That is a bad habit to get into with math as in college you do not get 3 hours on a test. My oldest went back to high school and this was a horrible issue for her. She had gotten so used to working on her own timetable that she failed a few math tests trying to be perfect in the test. She would spend so much time on the problems making sure she had a perfect answer that she hadn't thought ahead to times up and she would miss huge chunks of the test b/c she simply had not gotten to the questions. I find my perfectionist is more prone to this than my get it done students. The kids that want top marks and get upset if one problem doesn't have a negative and they lose points. Anyway, we worked on it at home some with a timer. They often brought home reviews and the most time my student was going to get on a test was 90 minutes (the length of a class-they are block scheduled...but the teacher often cut them off at 60 min. on the test). We worked on recognizing when time was coming up within 15 min. and going back and making our best answer. I would implement a time limit for the test. Your professor will not have 3 hours to proctor your exams in college and will not do so. So it is a skill to be gained. I would determine how long should be given for the test and work on time with the review and then the test.

[daybreaking]

Thanks, Tidbits! Those are helpful thoughts and you hit the nail on the head with your assessment of perfectionists wanting to get everything right and spending way too long on one problem. He is definitely my perfectionist child.

I would like to limit the time, but am perplexed with the "how" of it. This has been an ongoing issue, to be honest, and in the past if I pulled a test after a certain time limit, only about 1/4 of it would be done and he obviously would fail. Then I'm at a loss how to proceed. I wonder if I should have him repeat the chapter and then test again? But then we'd lose a few weeks when he already knows the material. I wonder if I should have him just keep taking the test day after day until he is able to do well within the limited time. I could just move on, but then he never learns to take the test within the time frame. I used to be a math teacher ... you would think I would have an answer!!

[Tidbits of Learning]

I would pull the test after the time limit and grade it. Then I would give him an opportunity to take the test the next day with only awarding 1/2 points for the remaining problems. I would count the grades. This is high school and credits. He wouldn't get the 3 hour window and he won't in college. You fix the problem now or you have a much uglier GPA in college due to the issue. Only give the 2 days to do the test and only award 1/2 points on the 2nd day. This is actually implemented at the high school some too as 9th graders tend to have this issue jumping into advanced math and being scared to fail and all that. So how my daughter's Algebra 1 Honors teacher worked was that any missed problems from the day 1 of the test could be worked on day 2 including the ones that the student just didn't get to b/c of time, but you could only get 1/2 points for the 2nd day work. It took about 2-3 tests this way for my student to build up to working more quickly and trusting her gut a little more on math to work a little faster. Plus they give points for partial correct problems so it benefitted to just get something down on every problem even if you didn't get the end correct answer b/c math at this level is so much about the concept and it is very easy to misread a decimal or drop a negative that they got points by steps of correctness. Again, only 1/2 points awarded the 2nd try if they corrected the answer. If this does not make sense, let me know.

[StephanieU]

I think you will find that each instructor and each class is different in how they deal with students and tests. I teach for our local community college, and I see a wide range of testing rules. I personally give my students 2 hours on normal tests and 3 hours for the final, even though it should not take them that long. I teach online, so their exams are at our testing centers. When I taught face to face before kids, it depended on the course and test. Some times I let them continue the test in my office. Normally I tried to make the test sorry enough that the average student could complete it in 30-45 minutes when the class period was 1.25-1.75 hours.
Before implementing grade penalties, I would personally work each question myself and write down how long it took to complete. Then I would add them up and multiply by 2 to 3, to determine a reasonable time for the test. Many textbook tests are long! Then assuming it should only take him 1-2 hours, I would mark each question on the test fire him with his long it should take him to do. Set a timer for each question if necessary so he knows when to move on. Help him work on his speed. Imposing grade penalties only works if the child is motivated by grades and understands the importance of them. And even then, they may not motivate a child...

[Carrie]

Daybreaking,

Do not despair! Both the chapter reviews and the chapter tests in Foerster's Algebra I (and Algebra II and Trig) can be incredibly long and time-consuming. After having done both of these programs now with my second oldest math-savvy child, I would encourage you to do only selected problems from both the reviews and the tests. You could do either the odds or the evens and then assign only selected story problem-type work. You will want the number of problems to be about half or less of what is provided. In the Introduction to the book in Algebra I, Foerster himself mentions that only the evens or odds of the daily assignments should be assigned and that the other set is for extra practice if needed.

Blessings,
Carrie

[daybreaking]

Carrie,

I could never thank you enough for your advice. My son took the next test today and it went so, so much better. Not only did he finish in a reasonable amount of time, but he did very well on the test. This is such a breath of fresh air after the frustration, tears, and struggles with the other tests. Thank you!!

I appreciate the other ladies who responded, as well, and found your suggestions helpful. What a wonderful group of ladies we have on this board!!