Edward,
I like your optomistic post! Yes, I believe for some students the pretest can set a meausre for the student to shoot for. Others may see it as just another class activity, while some may take a dim view and look at it as just a test. In reality, it helps the instructor the most by assessing where more (or less) attention is needed in order to help the students learn the material without underutilizing valuable time.
Barry Westling
