Why have RATs?

Why RATs? You learn what you can on your own Take responsibility for your own learning Learn what you don’t know Saves classroom time for what you can’t learn on your own – analysis and practice Increases exposure to class concepts

Process Individual preparation Allow 10 hours over the week prior Several different occasions Writing test questions is great prep!

Process Individual test Multiple choice Closed book questions Opportunity for individual credit

Process Group test Also closed book Allows peer teaching Another exposure to concepts Practice with group decision- making

Process Professor review Immediate expert feedback

Process Written group appeals Open book Can file that day or next Incentive to re-examine trouble spots More professor feedback Practice with diplomacy

Individual Preparation: How to Prepare for a RAT Look over my guidance and syllabus Take notes in your own words on: –The model as a whole –Each role –Each competency within the role

Principles of Good Test Questions Ask about stuff that matters Avoid arcane vocabulary Paraphrase – not verbatim Use as few words as possible State problem completely in the ‘stem’ Try not to use ‘not’ Avoid ‘always’ and ‘never’

The best test questions Are too hard for most individuals but can not for most groups Go beyond facts to test concepts Involve higher-order thinking –Applying concepts to specific concrete situations –Require synthesis between 2 or more concepts

Principles of Good Test Questions – the Answers Make sure the best response really is best Make alternatives as brief as possible Create answer options that uninformed will find plausible Use same grammatical structure for all response options Write only as many alternatives as will yield meaningful discriminations

Taking the Test Consider a “data dump” first, for: –The model –Each role –Each competency within that role Take the test in that order Try answering in your own words first