This affects how they
select the content to be written, and the planning and organization of texts.
The simulation helps them become aware of the need to build an autonomous text,
and to control how the subject is presented progressively. The simulation also
looks for students to begin studying for the exam earlier than usual, so they
can anticipate how they will be evaluated (questions to be asked and correction
criteria), so they are better prepared for what the teacher expects of them; to
show what they learn and their difficulties without receiving an evaluation,
receiving guidance instead, so when they review the texts they can play the
role of readers and evaluators, so they can incorporate all of this when they
take the actual test.
Students highly value
this activity. Studying for an exam simulation from a list of questions,
drafting a response with constraints in time and length, receiving comments on
the produced texts, seeing the teacher's evaluation criteria in action, and
receiving written corrections and a model of ideal answer; all these instances
reduce the uncertainty in the future evaluation and decreases the usual
anxiety. To participate in the analysis of the answers of fellow students puts
everyone in the position of reader-reviewer-evaluator, and this helps them keep
in mind the reader's point of view when writing for others, as well as the
criteria by which the teacher corrects them. Finally, the teacher receives
fewer questions about the correction of the exam because he or she has already
shown the correction criteria, and because the students have been able to
understand the situation beforehand.