The Impact of Studying and Test Difficulty on Exam Scores
Sophie Ward
Is studying a lost cause?
Studying
- Construct definition
- The capasity of observing material in order recall it at another time
- Operational definition
- Manipulated through having 2 study guides. One that contains historical facts and correlates to the exam and another guide that is study tips and does not correlate to the exam.
Exam Difficulty
- Construct definition
- Assessment of a topic or many topics ranging in different degrees of specificity
- Operational definition
- Manipulated through the creation of an easy test that consisted of 5 history based question at an elementary level and a difficult test that consisted of 5 history based questions at a high school level.
Test Performance
- the construct definition
- The overall achievement derived from an assessment of knowledge
- the construct definition
Operational definition
- Test Performance was measured by how many questions the participants got correct such as a 4 out of 5 would be high academic performance and a 1 out of 5 would be low academic performance.
Hypotheses
| Studying | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Study Facts Study Guide | History Facts Study Guide | ||
| Test Difficulty | Easier Difficulty | Higher Test Performance | Higher Test Performance |
| Harder Difficulty | Lower Test Performance | Higher Test Performance |
Discussion
- Weakness: lack of a zero control within the experiment.
- Strength: the exam questions were all present on the history guide regardless of exam difficulty level
- Implication: study guides aid in higher test scores
You have already achieved something!
- Remember, one glance can still put you ahead.