Thanks, Ginger! I know that they do need it--the trick is helping them realize it without beating them over the head or demoralizing them. I just wish that it weren't so necessary, that people didn't use these tests to judge how well we're teaching them, or, worse yet, how much they're capable of learning. Sometimes they're not even well constructed in standardized test terms--I mean the first question on our practice test had the most misleading item. It starts out "In paragraph 1.." but you can't find the answer unless you read to the bottom of paragraph two. And there was another one that was so ambiguous that I picked the wrong answer initially...*sigh**steps off soapbox*