A spelling test is an assessment of a person's (usually a student's) ability to spell words correctly. Spelling tests are usually given in school during language arts class, to see how well each student has learned the most recent spelling lesson. Typical intervals for spelling tests are one per week throughout the school year, except for

spelling bee A spelling bee is a competition in which contestants are asked to spell a broad selection of words, usually with a varying degree of difficulty. To compete, contestants must memorize the spellings of words as written in dictionaries, and recite ...

s, which are generally held once per year. Spelling tests are associated with

linguistic prescriptivism Linguistic prescription, or prescriptive grammar, is the establishment of rules defining preferred usage of language. These rules may address such linguistic aspects as spelling, pronunciation, vocabulary, syntax, and semantics. Sometimes infor ...

, the idea that language should be used in a certain manner as opposed to others.

Types of spelling tests

There are generally four types of spelling tests. In an oral spelling test, the teacher pronounces each word out loud and the students write each word down. In a spelling bee-type test (see ''

'' below), each student is asked individually one-at-a-time to spell a (different) specific word out loud. In a proofreading-style test, sentences or paragraphs are given to the student on one or more sheets of paper, and the student must find the incorrectly spelled words and supply the correct spellings in the spaces provided. In a multiple choice spelling test, two or more spellings are given for each word in the test, and the student must place a mark next to the one that is correct. The main difference between most spelling tests at school and a spelling bee is that in a spelling bee the students do not get to know in advance which words will be tested, but for regular spelling tests they do.

Spelling bee

One very difficult kind of spelling test is the spelling bee: a competition where contestants, usually children, are asked to spell English words. The practice originated in the United States and has since spread to elsewhere in the English-speaking world, especially North America. It is not, however, a very familiar concept in most Commonwealth nations, where, if the term is known at all, it is usually perceived as a peculiar American tradition. Every year in the United States, there is a national spelling bee involving most primary and secondary schools in the country; in addition to being awarded a scholarship, the winners in each age group get to meet the President of the United States.

Preparing for a spelling test

Repetition

In this method, the student typically writes out each word in the current spelling lesson a set number of times each, for example, 50 to 100 times.

Making mnemonics

One of the most effective ways to memorize spellings is to make up

mnemonics A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imagery ...

to help remember them. A

mnemonic A mnemonic ( ) device, or memory device, is any learning technique that aids information retention or retrieval (remembering) in the human memory for better understanding. Mnemonics make use of elaborative encoding, retrieval cues, and imag ...

is a memory trick which associates the thing that is to be remembered with something else to make it easier. For spelling, it can be the exaggerated pronunciation of a word, like ''indepenDENT''. Or it might be a silly sentence or visual image to help remember the word, like "the independents all dented their cars with sledgehammers". Or it might describe a key aspect of a word to help remember it, like "all the vowels in ''cemetery'' are the same: three little ''e's'', each on its own little tombstone."

References

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External links

;Free online spelling tests
Free Word Cup vocabulary/spelling quiz, updated weekly with 30 new words
;Another online spelling tests
Spell Words, Numbers, Cities, Phone numbers and letters!
Student assessment and evaluation Educational evaluation methods