Abstract:

A common revision strategy for undergraduate students involves attempting practice questions taken from past examination papers or provided by tutors. This paper discusses the use of an online practice test as a means of preparing undergraduate business students to sit a formal examination.

In this exploratory study 835 undergraduates were allowed unlimited attempts at an online practice test provided as a means of preparing for a formal examination. Details of each student’s attempts at the practice test were recorded automatically and then compared with exam performance.

An initial analysis of results suggests that the use of online practice tests offers a number of benefits to educators and students. As well as providing a relatively quick and effective way for tutors to provide students with targeted study advice, such tests can reduce the amount of time needed to revise and can increase examination performance significantly. The discussion also considers the optimum number of practice attempts and the extent of potential increases in student performance.

Keywords:

Revision, examinations, online tests, examination performance.