If there’s one thing you need to know about me, it’s that I love to trick my students into learning by playing games. Nothing brings me more joy than replacing a boring drill and kill worksheet with some type of game.
Now specifically in this blog post, I’m talking about final exam review games. There’s a lot of opinions about final exam and test review in general. I actually taught in two schools where reviewing for tests was frowned upon. I did the review anyway. #rebelteacher
Now for final exam review, you do need to be strategic about it. You can’t just review the entire course. There’s too much that needs to be done, and some of it will inevitably be a waste of time. The kids did learn something this year. And let’s just say for the sake of argument that they didn’t learn anything. There are certainly some topics that are pretty easy that they can go relearn on their own.
So after you’ve taken the time to evaluate what actually needs to be reviewed, here’s what I’d do for those topics:
Blooket
My kids live for Blooket. It’s an online game that the kids play with devices. You can upload your own multiple choice questions, or use a set made by a teacher that’s already on the platform. I have a pretty good library you are free to check out.
The questions are then presented in a variety of mini games that help the kids to be distracted to the fact that they are actually learning. They can steal gold from each other, mine and hack crypto, and so much more. The games are super engaging, and you actually get pretty good data on the kids.
I like to use the Blooket for overview of the basics. For my physical science kids, I use an activity that has them match units, variables and equations. That’s the first thing that they need to know to be successful for the final. It’s a great final exam review game because it’s ACTUALLY fun. I’m telling you, they BEG me to play!
Card Sorts & Task Cards
You know all those card sorts and task cards you’ve been using for the whole year? Put your answer keys out for your students and have them redo (yes, redo) the work. See if they can remember stuff from WAYYYY back in the year. I bet you, they’ll know more than you think they will. Plus you can customize this for different groups of students in your class. You can differentiate based on the strengths and weaknesses of kids at this point in the year. These can easily be converted into final exam review games depending on how you use them. Click the links at the top of this paragraph to learn more about one of the types of cards I use for review.
Old Unit Review Activities
Yes, you can do your activities again. I highly doubt that your kids remember every single answer from every activity you’ve ever given them. Make sure that you use these activities that you spent a lot of time on, to their fullest extent.
I like to use finger lights with my students. I’ve written multiple choice questions into a Google Slides presentation. Each answer choice corresponds to one of the colors of the finger lights. Students choose their answer by turning on the colored lights. My students really love this, even though I have the ability to make the questions super boring. This is a strategy I love for tricking my students into learning.
We also have some trashketball games, Jeopardy games and so many more final exam review games. These will be heading to TPT soon. I need my students to help me iron out the details a bit more. (Their complaints have helped me modify rules and questions over the years. Thanks guys…)
Pixel Art Collection
My collection of pixel art activities are perfect for helping students to evaluate their own learning. Pixel art is a Google Sheet where student answers are marked correct or incorrect by the programming of the Sheet. Correct answers reveal a secret image to increase student engagement. This gives kids a chance to determine how well they understand particular topics. I’m obsessed with all things self assessment. And let’s not forget that Pixel Arts are also self grading… They really can’t be beat.
For final exam review, they make a great tool for homework and determining how much time you need to spend on a particular topic. If the kids find they can’t get the answers quickly and easily, it helps you know what you need to reteach, and of course, what you can skip. It’s a really easy thing to assign for homework as well!
Vocabulary Practice
If kids don’t know what the test questions are actually asking them, they can’t answer the question. Even if they may know the content! For example: “Which subatomic particle is positive?” And let’s say two of the answer choices are proton, and cation. Both of these particles is positive, but only the proton is a subatomic particle. If the student doesn’t know that the definition of subatomic particle, they’ll have to guess on the question. Even though they may know that the proton is a small positive particle, found in the nucleus that gives atoms their identity. That one term can ruin the whole question for them.
For this reason, I’m a real pain in the butt about vocabulary. (My students make it absolutely no secret that they are personally offended at the thought of vocabulary assignments.) Call me a meanie butthead, but I assign vocabulary homework and even put a vocab matching section on most tests. One of my favorite ways to get my students some help with vocabulary is with vocabulary dominoes. We keep laminated sets in my classroom and use them over and over again. Final exam review is a great time to break them out again.
How exactly does this get turned into a final exam review game? I have students race to the finish! Races are a LOT of fun. But even better than that. I will have kids work silently and take turns. They will be grouped, and only one student per group can touch the cards. They will place one card, then take a seat and let the next student try. Student 2 will either place a new card or fix an old one. First group to get it right wins!
Game Boards
You can write some questions and print them out for the kids to play on a printable game board. I have a periodic table set of questions available. But you can grab the game board here for free and use it yourself. You can even have the kids write questions, which is one of my favorite ways to use this activity. It’s like double dipping, and it’s awesome.
