Set Up For Success This Finals Season

1. Create a Practice Exam

Creating a practice test in Derivita a week or two before the actual final exam will allow your students to get to know the Derivita platform if they have never used it before. It will allow them to test run their hardware (video camera, microphone, computer, smartphone) and their bandwidth and internet connection before the actual exam. This way they can resolve technical issues, ask questions, or raise concerns before the actual exam even begins. All of which lessens stress and nervousness levels, allowing the students to focus purely on the content of the exam. 

2. Decide the “strictness” level of the exam early

Decide how strict or “high-stakes” you want your final exam to be. Will you be enabling remote proctoring software on your exam? If so, make sure your students are aware of the proctoring software and how it works before the actual exam and with plenty of time to prepare. 

In Derivita, you can also allow multiple attempts on a single question within the exam. This is a more lenient approach and allows the student to see feedback as they work through the question and attempt to get the correct solution. If you choose this route, again communicate with your students and make sure they are aware of their options throughout the exam. 

3. Collaborate with fellow staff members

It can be helpful to have a fellow staff member review your final exam before deploying it to students to gain their opinion on the items and hear their feedback. This might save you from making any small mistakes or errors on your own exam and help inspire another teacher’s approach to creating their own final exam. This practice of collaboration also allows the mathematics curriculum throughout the school or district to be more consistent and cohesive across courses and grade levels. 

4. Utilize automated grading options when you can

Save yourself time and get your students their grades faster by utilizing Derivita’s automated scoring system. This system can be used on multiple question types including free-response questions from the Derivita Math Test Item Bank. This takes one more task off your plate, frees your time to work individually with students, and allows students to rest easy with their Final Exam score almost immediately after they submit their exam. 

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