Examining exam reviews: A comparison of exam scores and attitudes

Instructors commonly use exam reviews to help students prepare for exams and to increase student success. The current study compared the effects of traditional, trivia, and practice test- based exam reviews on actual exam scores, as well as students’ attitudes toward each review. Findings suggested that students’ exam scores were significantly higher for the exams following both a traditional review and a trivia review than for the exam following the practice test review. Immediately after the review, three attitude measures (i.e. confidence, feeling prepared, and helpfulness of review) were lowest after the traditional review. Finally, immediately after taking the exam, students reported higher ratings (i.e. confidence, feeling prepared, and helpfulness) after the trivia review. Implications of these results are discussed.