A while back, I had a new group of students. They came from different schools and were integrating into a ninth grade English class. On one of their first tests, they did okay, but obviously had some trouble spots. As their teacher, I wanted to help them in the best way that I could. So, I made this handy-dandy test analyzer. I've used it before, and I thought that this concept just might be helpful for other teachers, so here it is.
1. Write down a list with the number of every problem on the test. (The test in this example had forty questions.)
2. After the tests have been graded, go through them one at a time, putting one tally mark beside every problem that a student missed.
3. Depending on the size of your class, circle the number of trouble spots. For the example above, I was concerned about any problem that five or more students missed. (There are twenty-six students in this class.)
4. At the bottom of the page, make a little list and tally up how many students got As, Bs, Cs, etc. (On this test six had As, nine had Bs, and one had a C. The other ten had below a C. That's why I did this. Those kinds of grades are not acceptable.)
P.S. I also write this A-B-C list on the board so that the students will know how they ranked. It does help improve performance.
P.S.S. I rarely curve grades. I had taught the material, and they were responsible for it.
5. Before you return the tests to the students, go over these trouble spots on the board, showing them what they did wrong. On this test it was numbers 8, 9, 10, and everything after #25.
6. Over the next week or two, consistently work on these trouble spots in class to make sure that the students understand the concepts that they had previously missed.
Conclusion: It worked! We hit those trouble spots and their comprehension of those concepts and their grades went up.
Bonus: This doesn't happen anymore. I've been able to analyze their weak spots, focus on those spots, and now, everyone is on the same page -- pretty much anyway.