How To Save Time Grading Tests

In January, I joined the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club.  January's theme was all about assessment.  I learned that grading assessments is very time-consuming for other teachers.  It has never been all that time-consuming for me, so I thought it would be helpful to share how I grade tests.

As a frame of reference, my tests are typically graded in under 42 minutes for a class of 24 students.  (Unless there were proofs.  Grading proofs will take longer.)

It may be helpful to understand how I structure my tests.  For more information on how I create my unit tests, see my previous post.


For grading these tests, I grade one page at a time.  The multiple choice almost always takes up the entire first page.   When I finish the page, I turn it over, and grade the next student's first page.  Since students only write their names on the first page, once I turn the page, I don't know whose test I am grading.  This allows for unbiased grading of the short answer questions.  When a student does something crazy I will look back at who it is and make a note to talk about that problem with them, but for the most part, I like not knowing whose test I am grading.

Grading one page at a time is a sort of "batching".  Batching is something that is frequently discussed in the 40 Hour Teacher Workweek Club.  When you batch a task, you make the task easier to focus on.  When I grade one page at a time, I am grading the same few questions repeatedly.  This is the main time saver.  After the first few tests, I have the answers memorized, I know the common mistakes that are popping up, and I know how many points they lose for those mistakes.  It becomes faster and easier to grade the question and then move on.  Of course, the longer written answer questions will take a little longer to grade, but the same principle applies.

This is how I have always graded my tests, and I was surprised to learn that not all teachers grade this way.  Everyone has their preferences and procedures.  Do what works best for you.  I just thought my method would be worth sharing since I've never found grading to be time-consuming.

Grading is the one thing that I rarely take home with me.  I will begin grading the multiple choice toward the end of the class period when most students are finished, and then finish grading during my preps.  The only time I grade at home is when my prep time had to be used for another task or meeting.

Self-Assessment [#MTBoSBlaugust]

I have been reading "Mathematical Mindsets" this summer, and I am currently reading the chapter on assessments.  The first thing that is recommended is using self-assessments with students.  I was so excited about this because I already do this.  I'm doing something right!  I incorporate a self-assessment into each unit of my Interactive Notebook.  I have students do the assessment twice - before the unit and at the end of the unit.  As I write this, I am considering having students do the self-assessment repeatedly throughout the unit.

For each topic, I list the objectives of the topic.  I write each one out as an "I can" statement.  There are two columns for the self-assessment.  There's a "pre" column and a "post" column.  Students rate themselves on a scale of 1 - 4, 1 being "I need to learn this" and 4 being "I could teach this".

I check the self-assessments before the unit test.  If students are rating themselves as a 1 or 2 on any topic, I remind them to come in for help so they can be successful on the test.

The second type of self-assessment I use is called a "self-quiz".  I use these for anything that needs to be memorized.  For example, as we begin to review for the Regents we begin to do these self-quizzes to memorize the formulas that are not given on the exam.  I give students the quiz.  Depending on the content, it may or may not be timed.  I have students hold on to their quizzes, and then we go over the answers together.  I emphasize with students that anything they had wrong they either need to study or come in to get help, and anything they had right they already know.  The funny thing is students start to get flustered because it's a quiz, they completely skip over the part that says "self".  Once they get used to having self-quizzes, they are fine and understand it's just to see what they remember.  Students usually end up seeing self-quizzes as a valuable tool.