Episode Details

Ever wondered if the reason your students struggle on end of course exams isn’t actually about what you’ve taught them, but how they take the test? In this episode of The Secondary Teacher Podcast, host Khristen Massic tackles the real reason many middle and high school students freeze up during exams. The big idea is right there in the title: “test prep strategies for secondary teachers.” This one’s a full-on wake-up call if you’re tired of watching solid students trip over standardized tests, and it’s especially right for you if you’ve got multiple preps and zero time to waste.

Here’s the dirty little secret: it’s not about blitzing through endless practice questions or shaving down your curriculum to the same tired content. So many teachers feel guilty for not “doing more” test prep, but Khristen Massic turns that old thinking on its head. Instead of feeling stuck between teaching content and so-called “teaching to the test,” imagine arming your kids with skills they’ll actually use beyond your classroom—on the SAT, for job certifications, and anywhere else standardized tests lurk. That’s not cheating; that’s called doing them a favor.

Early in Khristen’s teaching journey, it took prepping for her own GRE to pull back the curtain. Picture this: four years in, staring down a test she hadn’t faced in years, armed with content-heavy notes only to find out the real power move was so much simpler. That moment when the GRE prep book said, “take the easy test first”—it was a lightbulb moment. She realized that many of her students knew the content, but didn’t have a clue how to hack the system and play the test’s game.

So how do you flip the script for your own secondary classroom? Khristen lays down three core test taking strategies for teachers to put straight into play. First up: teach your students to take the easy test first. That means skimming through the entire exam, attacking the sure bets, and coming back for the toughies. It’s a classroom routine that conquers test anxiety and mental drain, and frankly, it’s a killer move for building classroom confidence.

Second, she debunks the myth that guessing is pointless. Khristen urges you to train students to narrow down before guessing. When kids eliminate the obvious duds instead of leaving blanks, they increase their odds—and their scores—by simply working smarter, not harder.

Then there’s the under-the-radar test killer: vocabulary. Khristen’s classroom experience is a perfect example—students lost points not because they didn’t know the skill, but because the state test called it something different than she did. “Constraints” became “limitations” on the exam, and kids got stuck. The fix? Make sure they know how to decode the language of the test, not just memorize your words.

This approach isn’t just for test season. It’s for every teacher swamped with multiple preps and not enough hours. These strategies work across every subject and classroom, so you can stop burning yourself out trying to create custom review sessions for each prep. Instead, you’re building life skills that will propel your students beyond your four walls, while also preserving your own work-life balance.

The episode isn’t about lowering the bar; it’s about tearing down the myth that strategic test taking is somehow less than pure teaching. Khristen is clear: teaching students how to test does not equal teaching to the test—it’s about equipping young people to think strategically, for every test they’ll ever face, school or otherwise.

If you’re the kind of teacher who questions the old ways, who wants more for your students than rote memorization, this one will hit home. Test prep isn’t about cranking out automatons—it’s about creating flexible thinkers. Khristen’s challenge: try teaching one test taking strategy this week and see what happens.

Test anxiety doesn’t stand a chance against smart strategy, and neither does that old-school guilt trip