No Stakes vs. Low Stakes

 Emma Winfree

As all of us Physiology students know, the exams in both Anatomy and Physiology classes are no cakewalk. It takes a lot of preparation and studying to do well on these exams, and they are both very rigorous classes with difficult material. In a study done on students over a three-year period at Marieb College, performance on Anatomy and Physiology I and II exams was observed. As stated in the paper, “practice exams are a proven tool to increase retrieval of information long-term” (Reuter, 2020). They compared the results of students who took no-stakes practice exams to study for the actual lecture exams, as well as low-stakes practice exams, and taking no practice exams at all. 

            The results showed that those who took the low-stakes exams were more likely to take them than those who took the no-stakes exams. As a college student who already took Anatomy and is currently in Physiology, this does not surprise me. If these low-stakes exams can help my grade in the class, even just a small amount, I would also take them. Since they are giving me credit, I would also study for them and take them more seriously than a no-stakes practice exam. As to be expected, those who took the low-stakes exams did significantly better on actual lecture exams 1, 2, and 3 than those who did the no-stakes practice exams. The shocking part of this study is that those who were earning credit for these low-stakes practice exams did worse on the final exam than those who were not earning credit by taking the no-stakes practice exams. 

Although the differences in scores between the two groups on the final exam were not significant, it is still shocking. Those who took the low-stakes practice exams did significantly worse on the final exam than the rest of the exams. This could be due to the final being cumulative, and they didn’t retain the information as well over a long period of time as those who took the no-stakes practice exams. It could also be because the low-stakes takers didn’t study as hard for the final as the no-stakes because they had better grades going into the final exam. 

            Given the results of this study, professors may want to consider giving low-stake practice exams before actual exams. The study proves that they do help improve test scores and overall grades in the class. The question is why did it not help on the final exam? Was the final exam significantly harder than the rest of the exams, or are no-stake practice exams better for overall retention of information?

 

Reuter, Peter. “Low-Stakes vs. No-Stakes Practice Exams in Anatomy and Physiology Classes: Which One Works Better?” HAPS Educator, vol. 24, no. 2, 2020, pp. 21–26., https://doi.org/10.21692/haps.2020.010.