::A Geek in Korea::

One of the coolest things about how seriously school I work at takes testing is the fact that students to fail tests are held accountable to a degree not found at any other place I’ve ever worked. The retests that waste students time are designed to give a consequence to the failure of a test. Either pass a test, go realize that you won’t be on the bus home. This is a good idea, as students study for the mind-numbingly boring vocabulary tests with a ferocious desire to pass.

Usually.

Again, one of my classes has worked out a way to frustrate and annoy teachers, slowing down the process and aggravating everyone. All of the students fail the test on their first try. Then they waste class time by studying the test and looking over the material. They have a ten minute break while teachers switch, then they attempt another retest. Since all the students retest at the same time, instead of a five minute test, it can take ten or more minutes to get everything graded and handed back. All this time students are running back in forth in the halls, and the overworked receptionists are trying to keep track of who has and hasn’t taken the test.

When class lets back in after their ten minute break, I often have no students in class if I am the second teacher they see in the day. I wasted five or more minutes as students drifted back in from a “five minute test”. If students fail this retest, they have another test after my class session. This becomes their entire focus during my class, and students actually complain if I don’t let them out early to give them more time before the bus leaves.

Whole idea is that you pass the test the first time, then you don’t have to worry about missing the bus or staying late. Complaining about the consequences of your actions when you know what you did would get you in trouble defeats the point. Students that fail their tests every single time need to get special treatment, because this “retest” stuff is starting to waste more time than it is worth to me.