The impact of implementing interactive exam review strategies on student satisfaction and exam scores

Abstract Text: Interactive teaching increases students’ satisfaction and performance in college courses. These strategies require time and effort from the instructor. Due to student personality differences, there is no guarantee that students are satisfied with the teaching methods of the instructor. The objective was to investigate the impacts and relationship between student personalities, the type of course review strategy on exam scores, and student satisfaction. The population consisted of 53 students enrolled in the Spring 2013 Animal Reproduction and Breeding course at the University of Idaho. The Real Colors Personality Indicator (RCPI) was administered to assess and describe students’ personality. For Exam 1, students were assigned randomly to one of the two review session methods: quiz bowl (QB) question-answer or lecture review (LR), both methods were facilitated by the course instructor. The groups were then switched for Exam 2. For the final exam, students chose the review method session or attend both. After attending review sessions, student satisfaction of the review type was measured using a researcher-created, (scale of 1 to 4). Data from the RCPI, satisfaction questionnaires, and exam scores were analyzed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The class was 80% animal science majors. Overall, students were more satisfied with the QB review method (M = 3.24, SD = 0.74; M = 3.52, 0.45) than the LR review method (M = 2.50, SD = 0.35; M = 2.64, 0.32) for both Exam 1 and 2, respectively. Data also revealed that students who attended the QB review session scored greater on Exam 1 (M = 79.5, SD = 13.6) than the group of students who attended LR (M = 71.6, SD = 13.0) or did not attended review session (M = 62.4, SD = 14.7). For the final exam students attended both review methods had greater score than those that did not attend any review sessions.  When exam scores of the four personality groups were compared, students with a green personality scored the highest on all three exams. Green personalities tend to be logical intellectuals that are curious and irritated by drill and routine. It appears that interactive review sessions improve student information retention. It is recommended that college professors provide review sessions and perhaps incorporate interactive review strategies, like quiz bowl. By improving teaching methods, and awareness of student personality differences, improvements can be made in student’s course performance and satisfaction.

Keywords: learning styles, review strategies, teaching