A Comparison of Collaborative Testing and Alternative Test-Taking Methods on Content Retention in Baccalaureate Nursing Students

Abstract

Nursing faculty look for ways to promote the retention of content so that students can build on that content and apply it to nursing practice. A study was designed to determine differences in content retention between testing collaboratively, which involves students taking an exam collectively within a small group, using an individual notecard, and including written rationale for test answers during collaborative testing. Students who tested collaboratively had significantly higher long-term content retention than students who tested with the other methods.