Test Taking Strategies Developed and Designed by Birma Gainor Test Taking Skills Test Taking Strategies Developed and Designed by Birma Gainor

Advice Overview General Strategies Strategies for Objective Exams

General Strategies Bring the materials you need for the test Arrive on time Write down formulas of processes you need as soon as you get your test paper Preview the test Read all directions carefully and slowly

General Strategies (cont’) Underline key terms and steps in the directions and in each question Use appropriate test-wise strategies Answer the easiest questions first Expect memory blocks Attempt every question

General Strategies (cont’) Make your responses neat and legible Unless you are using a special form that will be scanned for scoring, cross out incorrect information instead of taking time to erase Work at your own pace Review the questions and your answers

Strategies for Objective Exams If you don’t know an answer, skip it and go on When you return to questions you skipped, try to figure out what the answer is NOT Eliminate grammatically incorrect distracters Read all choices before answering a multiple-choice question Responses that LOOK like the word to be defined are usually incorrect

Objective Exams (cont’) Watch for distracters that mean the same thing Use what you know to analyze and make decisions about information If the test contains a true-false section, read each question thoroughly If the test concerns math or science, watch your time closely Watch for double negatives

Objective Exams (cont’) The longest choice is often the right one A middle choice (b or c) is often the correct one Read carefully and look for give-away clues Watch for trick questions If a multiple-choice confuses you, consider the stem and each distracter as a true-false question

Objective Exams (cont’) Use the side with the longest responses as the stem on matching tests Try to determine the relationships between the columns on matching exams Cross out choices that you know are incorrect When all else fails, guess Review your exam before turning it in

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