Preparing for a test often proves challenging and tedious for high school students. While nothing can make test prep effortless, teachers can add excitement to the activity by engaging the students in interactive review games. Games allow high school students to review the requisite content without spending hours pouring over their books and turn test preparation from a dreaded activity to an enjoyable pastime.
PowerPoint Game Shows
PowerPoint Game Show review games provide high school students with a competitive practice opportunity. Teachers can create their own PowerPoint games by downloading free templates from the PowerPoint Games website, which offers them for everything from “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” to “Jeopardy!” By placing questions and answers relevant to the test topics into these templates, teachers can effectively create an interactive review game for their students.
Definition BINGO
Definition BINGO tests students' understanding of content vocabulary and can be applied to any academic subject. Create a five-by-five grid and make enough copies for each student to have one. Write vocabulary word definitions on slips of paper, fold them and place them in a hat or basket. Write each of the vocabulary words for which you wrote a definition on the classroom chalkboard. Give each student one of the prepared grids. Ask each to select 25 words from the board and write them on his grid, placing one word in each box. Once students have populated their grids, begin to pull definition slips from the hat or basket. Read each definition and instruct the students to place an X across the box containing the word that pairs with the definition, if he has that word on his board. When the students create a row of five boxes, they should yell, “BINGO” to indicate completion and claim their prize.
Onion Ball
Offer your students a movement-based question-and-answer game to help them prepare for their upcoming test. Print questions similar to those that will be on your test on separate sheets of paper. Crumple one of the question sheets tightly to create a ball. Wrap another sheet around this one, crumbling it so it creates a second layer. Continue in this fashion to create an multilayered ball of questions. To begin the game, peel off the outermost layer of the prepared ball and read the question to your students. Allow them to raise their hands if they can answer the question. Select a student and, if he answers correctly, throw him the ball. That student then peels off another layer and reads the question. Play continues in this fashion until all the questions have been answered.
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Writer Bio
Erin Schreiner is a freelance writer and teacher who holds a bachelor's degree from Bowling Green State University. She has been actively freelancing since 2008. Schreiner previously worked for a London-based freelance firm. Her work appears on eHow, Trails.com and RedEnvelope. She currently teaches writing to middle school students in Ohio and works on her writing craft regularly.