Test prep doesn’t have to disrupt your regular instruction or overwhelm your students. When preparation is built into everyday instruction, students gain confidence and familiarity with testing throughout the year.
The most effective test prep strategies focus on skill-building, data-informed decisions, and consistent exposure to assessment formats. We have test-prep tips paired with Formative features to help you streamline planning, personalize support, and make your test prep more manageable.
Jump to:
Effective test prep doesn’t require creating new materials from scratch or setting aside weeks for review. Small, intentional shifts with consistent use can help students practice key skills, build familiarity with test formats, and feel more confident on testing day.
These tips will help you prepare for your individual test prep and show how Formative can support both prep and everyday instruction, making test prep feel less stressful.
Key takeaways:
Using a single platform for lessons, assessments, and test prep can make it easier to prepare your students for the upcoming testing season. With one tool, you can integrate test prep into daily instruction, familiarize students with testing formats, build confidence, and develop the skills they need for success. With Formative, you can use features like:
Teachers in schools and districts that have access to Balanced Assessment by Formative (formerly Balance Assessment Suite) can get extra help from Luna, your AI-powered assistant, this testing season.
With Luna Configuration Studio, your admin can create district-specific assessments and settings that truly reflect your unique curriculum, standards, and instructional approach.
They’ll upload frameworks, documents, and instructional guidance, and create and save custom settings so when you chat with Luna, you’ll get consistent, aligned assessments. There’s also a growing, prebuilt library with configurations that cover CCSS, NGSS, and select state content.
Want access to Balanced Assessment by Formative features for this test prep season? Request school-wide access, and we’ll contact your admin to get started!
Key takeaways:
The formative assessments you give all year can give you continuous, actionable data that show where your students need help and may benefit from reteaching moments before standardized testing. You can use real-time reports and insights in Formative to explore data from every angle. Try one of these reports to influence your planning:
Chat with Luna to refine and customize the activity and ensure every student receives targeted, meaningful support.
Balanced Assessment by Formative customers can gain additional data insights by using Luna Next Steps. This feature lets you use real-time assessment data to pinpoint student strengths and gaps, and then automatically generate a recommended next-step activity aligned to those gaps.
For access to Luna Next Steps and other great test prep resources, request school-wide access, and we’ll contact your admin to get started!
Key takeaways:
Depending on your state and the exams your students are taking, they may be paper, digital, or a combination of both. You can help your students feel more comfortable taking digital high-stakes tests by using similar tools year-round.
Formative’s diverse question types offer a dynamic range of options to create more engaging, informative, and personalized assessments that get students ready for digital tests. Try options like:
Formative also has a variety of accommodations and modifications to make assessments more inclusive for every student. Try options like:
Key takeaways:
You don’t have to create all your test prep resources from scratch. Instead, leverage resources that are already available, such as released state test questions. In Formative, we offer collections to help you easily access and assign these questions to give your students authentic test prep with less hassle. Explore collections for:
Don’t see your state or test? Search for it in the Formative library. One of your fellow state educators may have created their own resource.
Key takeaways:
Even with time limits on certain test sections, some students will finish faster than others. Prepare quiet, “finished early” activities in advance so students know exactly what they can and can’t do while testing is still in progress.
We’ve curated a collection of “Just for Fun” activities to keep students occupied and entertained while they wait for their next set of instructions. Share options like:
Key takeaways:
Test prep and testing season can feel overwhelming for students and teachers. Remember to take mental health breaks and promote healthy habits outside the classroom to stay focused, refreshed, and ready to take on exams. You can help students prepare their minds and bodies to test like pros with these test-taking and mindset courses created by Formative user Matthew Richardson:
Test prep is most effective when it fits naturally into your everyday teaching. Formative simplifies the process by bringing together skills practice, data, differentiation, and assessment-aligned content in one place, making preparation feel manageable rather than overwhelming.
If you’re looking for even more support, try one of our flexible resources to help you prepare with confidence:
Ready to put these tools and strategies into practice? Sign up for Formative for free to access all these test prep resources and more!
.jpg)
