Time Management and Standardized Exams

A few years ago, a family approached me asking to review their (obviously) gifted daughter for the BMAT (stands for the BioMedical Admissions Test, given to international students planning to go into the BioMedical field anywhere in the US and abroad). This student had all A's in her classes, she was a foreigner (English is her second language), was just here for 6 months, & did NOT have much of a learning curve with a full load of AP classes here and abroad. For a senior student, with just one semester here in the US, she was really killing it in school (teenage slang for: "really doing well"). I was quite impressed with this young lady. At any rate, she and her parents were surprised and even worried why her scores were substandardly not reflecting what she knew in the three BMAT practice tests she took at home. When I asked if a timer was turned on whenever she took a practice exam, she said: "No. I didn't think it was necessary". She told me she couldn't really finish the test with a timer.

It is hard to put ourselves under time constraints in anything we do leisurely. Everyone has that issue, whatever their stage in life. Why indeed turn on a timer if we "own our time" during breaks and vacations? After all, this is why we have made "time to review", so we can do it at our own pace. Right? Well ... Yes, but not really.

All standardized tests have mostly one thing in common: these are usually timed exams. Unless a student has special exceptions, there are strict limitations as to how long a student can process (or mull over) a question. Although it is not always a measure of intelligence, it is mostly a measure of what a student knows "at that moment". Unfortunately, the best way standardized test-makers measure that is to give a time limit on the output of information. Either a student knows it or doesn't. How one answers effortlessly (or with ease) can usually only be quantified through the burden of shortened time.

Is this fair? Not really. Not for everyone. Some students just have a knack for working faster and more efficiently than others. Some just naturally process information faster. It is not uncommon for some average students to score higher than their peers who are above-average than them, merely because they complete the test despite the strain. Some students who have no trouble getting B's or A's in their regular classes have difficulties producing under duress (or needs to know how to process information under duress). This is not uncommon too. It is one thing not to know the material; it is simply another not to complete the questions efficiently.

Standardized test-taking is mostly a skill--a TIME MANAGEMENT SKILL. And, as with any skill, it needs to be honed. To do well on any standardized test, like the SAT, ACT, PSAT, AP, CLEP, or even the BMAT, it simply not enough to merely know the material. One has to know the material well enough to give an answer expeditiously. After all, fluency is measured only by time.

Leisurely practicing on or prepping for a standardized test? That doesn't really work. A student just has to practice with a timer all the time--even when they want to do it "on their break". 😉