Please correct every test sheet you took when you are a ninth grader.

[Skrej]

I don't find "Please go back and correct all your old tests from this term" at all natural.

The only unnatural part for me is why the teacher waited until the end of the term to tell them this, but otherwise it's quite natural to me. It's something I was told to do as a student, and something I tell students to do.

What's the point in telling a student to go back and change the answers to tests they already took? They already know they got some answers wrong and they were told the right answers. This seems like a monumental waste of their time!

On the contrary. It forces them to go back and review the ones they got incorrect, and figure out why they're wrong. You don't just give them the correct answers and ask them to rewrite them. The students have to figure out why it's wrong and make the corrections themselves.

Simply telling them it's wrong isn't much use to the student unless they can figure out why it's wrong. They're far more likely to retain the correction if they work it out themselves versus the instructor just writing the correct answer.

Sometimes,(particularly if I'm more worried about them knowing the correct information than I am about their grade), I'll allow them to resubmit the work for a revised grade (particularly on graded homework), although I don't necessarily do a direct replacement of the corrected score.

When I grade papers, I generally no longer provide the correct answer. I've just seen to many students turn around and repeat the mistake later if I do that. I may give a hint or some general guidance, but not the full correct answer.

 

[emsr2d2]

OK, at least that makes sense on an individual test basis. The idea of being told to review the questions you got wrong for a whole year (all at one go) doesn't make sense though, as you said. However, I still wouldn't phrase it as "Please correct all your old tests". That suggests that the student will suddenly, miraculously, know the correct answer to all the questions they got wrong. I might say something like "Please revisit/review all your incorrect answers from this term and have another go/try".

 

[sitifan]

I've just seen to many students turn around and repeat the mistake later if I do that.

too

 

[Tarheel]

This is totally off-topic. But once in geography class my teacher gave the same test twice. He told me that I only got one wrong both times, but it was a different one.