“Strategies for Answering Various Types of Test Questions” Test Taking Lecture 4 “Strategies for Answering Various Types of Test Questions”

Test Taking Humor

The Four Basic Types of Test Questions What color is the sky? white blue grayish all of the above Multiple Choice (also called “Educated Guessing”) 2. True/False The sky is sometimes grayish. (T or F) 3. Fill-in-the-Blank The ________ is blue. Item Color sky a. white trees b. yellow clouds c. blue dirt d. green dandelion e. brown 4. Matching

Multiple Choice (Educated Guess) Questions Answer easiest quest. first. Answer a quest. in your head before you look at the options. Eliminate the obvious wrong choices first, especially foolish or insulting ones. Do NOT select the 1st correct answer you find. Read entire list.

More Tips for Answering Multiple Choice Questions: Mark questions you cannot answer immediately and come back to them. Eliminate any options with absolute qualifiers (also called “absolute modifiers”). What are absolute qualifiers? They are words that indicate 100% absolute certainty. Some examples: no, never, only, always, all, entirely A sample multiple choice option with an absolute mod.: Why would you want to eliminate the above sort of options first in a multiple choice question? Nobody sleeps all day!

More Strategies for Multiple Choice: Eliminate any options with unfamiliar terms (this is to be used ONLY if you studied well beforehand). Eliminate the highest and lowest numbers in number options. If there are look-alike options, choose one of them. If one option is longer or more inclusive, choose it. If “all of the above” is given, choose it. If you are desperate and have run out of strategies, choose “c.” Now, turn to pp. 14-16 of the packet and try out these tips.

How to Approach True/False Questions If there is an absolute modifier, guess FALSE. Example: Women left behind during the Revolution- ary War would always run the family farm or business until the men returned. If there is a general qualifier, guess TRUE. What is a general qualifier? Word that does NOT show 100% absolute certainty: some, generally, many, usually, most, few, seldom

x Continuing with T/F Test Questions… Example of statement with general qualifier: Women left behind during the Revolutionary War would often run the family farm until the men returned. Why do you think it’s advisable to guess TRUE on a statement that contains a general qualifier? If you have NO idea and must take a wild shot, go for TRUE. Watch out for double negatives in a statement… They can make it very confusing…so change it to a positive statement. Example: It is not illogical to be a little nervous about test taking. x x Go to pp. 18-19 of your Packet to practice T/F questions.

Practice with T/F Test Question Qualifiers: (This page is NOT in your Packet!) no, never, none, nothing, only generally, probably, sometimes, usually completely, entirely, always, best, every 100% NEGATIVE Absolute Qualifiers General Qualifiers 100% POSITIVE Absolute Qualifiers *Use the above knowledge to help you decide if the following statements are TRUE or FALSE. Honda makes cars. True or False ? Honda only makes cars. True or False ? All Pit Bulls are aggressive. True or False ? Nobody reads the dictionary for fun. True or False ?

NOW, let’s talk about strategies for fill-in-the-blank questions (sometimes called “completion questions”). Read question to yourself, so that you can hear what’s being asked. 2.If a 2nd answer also comes to mind, write BOTH answers in the margin. Come back later, and choose the one you want. 3.Be sure that your choice fits in logically and grammatically. (noun) dog EXAMPLE: The _______ caught the ball. POSSIBLE CHOICES: pretty, ran, friendly, happiness, dog, skillful, jump 4.Remember that your answer may require more than one word.

Strategies for Matching Questions *Although most students think matching is one of the easier types of test questions, your chances of guessing the correct answer are very slim. Why is this? --With T/F questions, you have a 50% chance of guessing the right answer. --With multiple choice questions, you have a 25% chance before you begin to get rid of incorrect options (also called distracters.) *There ARE some techniques, however, that you can apply: --Preview all possibilities before answering any questions. --Determine if an answer can be used more than once.

More Strategies for Matching Questions… Answer the items you are sure about 1st. Use logic and common sense to decide what is being asked for: a person? a place? a date?, etc. Cross out options as you use them (so you don’t keep re-reading them!). Now turn to page 17 of your Packet to practice Fill- In and Matching questions.