I’m no good at taking tests and the post “understanding” referenced within, over at the Blog of Doom.

I may not be able to see into their minds, but the problem I see is this: rather than learning the concepts and forming a mental model of how something works, students are learning (and are being taught) how to do certain problems. If a problem is outside the scope of what they’ve been taught, it’s considered impossible — even when it actually could be solved with their current knowledge. When a teacher tries to make students think outside the box, she’s accused of testing students on “stuff she never taught us.”

The flashback is to excuses I used to hear, of which “I’m no good at test-taking” was a favorite. We interviewed all students who failed exams, so there was a fair amount of opportunity to hear it.