Practice Makes Perfect

Practice makes perfect!
Kathy Gude, an author for Oxford University Press, and an ELT consultant specialising in ELT examinations, writes about the benefits of practice tests.

Type the words ELTPractice Tests into a search engine and you should be able to find over 20,000 entries. Some spell practice with a ‘c’ and some with an ‘s’. Some extol practice tests as the perfect way to improveyour English, others as a useful classroom tool or as an invaluable self-study resource. So what exactly are the benefits of these seemingly incredibly popular sets of tests? Examinations are often astep into the unknown and candidates who have been well prepared for them and know what to expect are often more confident and tend to do better (particularly in productive papers such as writing andspeaking). Most practice tests closely replicate the level, content and task types which appear in the examination they are targeting, and are thus a useful resource for examination classes. Some testscome with useful hints for tackling the task types and managing time during the exam. From the point of view of the student, being able to sit quietly and peacefully either at home or in the classroomand concentrate on the tasks in question without undergoing the pressures of examination conditions helps tremendously to de-sensitise examination nerves. Practice tests can also help students tounderstand how the mind of the examiner works and develop strategies for ensuring that they achieve their true potential when operating under examination conditions. They help students to reach therequired level needed to achieve this. Many tests are accompanied by detailed marking schemes, explaining how marks are awarded and what they might not be awarded for. These help students focus theiranswers and avoid the many pitfalls which lie in wait for the unsuspecting candidate. In addition, they help teachers to assess students’ ability and predict what grades students might be able to achieve...