1. Taking a test or exam
Best practices

2. Coming to the test/exam
Come rested and well fed.
Come with extra equipment – pens,
pencils, high liters, erasers
Skip the white out!!

3. Sit in a comfortable place and position in the room
Before the test/exam
Sit in a comfortable place and position in the room
NO distractions

4. Don’t talk to others about the test/exam as you enter.
If they are anxious they can make
you anxious too.

5. Don’t cram as you come in the door.
Take deep, slow breaths
Use the power of prayer that is available to you every morning

6. Send yourself POSITIVE messages
Be confident
Send yourself POSITIVE messages

7. READ FIRST
Read over the WHOLE test/exam before answering any questions.
(Takes about 10 minutes max)
As you read put stars
beside questions you know the answer to well.
Highlight key words in the instructions as you read.
This helps your brain think subconsciously about the questions and sometimes you will find clues in the test which will help you somewhere else. Usually in short answer questions.

8. To begin writing
Go back
and do the sections
you can do
quickly

9. True/False, Multiple Choice, Matching question
If you must skip a
True/False, Multiple Choice, Matching
question
put an indicator beside it for
coming back to it later. !

10. If the test/exam is almost over and you still
have not put in an answer for these types
of questions – guess.
You have a 50% chance, a 25% chance,
or 1/25 (depending on the choices)
Be careful at university.
Some departments subtract marks for
wrong answers so
READ the directions CAREFULLY!

11. Answer the short answer/essay questions
you know first. They are the easy ones
for you.
Do not worry about answering the
questions in order or in saving space on
the page.
NUMBER carefully in any order
that suits you.

12. If you made a mistake in your answer, put a line through it
and continue with your
answer.
DO NOT waste time on white out.

13. If you are running out of time; put your answers in point form.
Only 1 or 2 questions should be in this format, NOT the whole section.
You may lose communication or process marks but you will get marks for the ideas.

14. Answering Multiple Choice Questions

15. Read the question CAREFULLY.
Read ALL the options
before choosing one.

16. Underline
important
words
or use a highlighter

17. Circle key words – especially disclaimers/distracters/absolutes like
not always many never all only
then read the rest of the statement carefully
These are most often NOT the correct answer

18. seldom some usually Look for answers that have conditional words
These are usually correct

19. if you are unsure of the response
Look for
grammatically correct answers
if you are unsure of the response

20. You could cover the options
while reading
the main statement
and think
what is the answer
then
look for what BEST matches your answer.

21. Answer the questions you know first. Come back to the difficult ones.
Never leave a blank answer.

22. Pretend the statements are true/false.
Which is correct?

23. Why do you want to change it?
Think carefully before you change an
answer when you come back to proofread.
Why do you want to change it?
Have a good reason.

24. Short answer and essay tests

25. The purpose of the test is to find out if you have an understanding of the material.
Do you have the factual knowledge, and can you apply it to other situations?

26. Tests and exams
are
NOT
regurgitation!

27. Hints: Read the question and highlight/underline key words.
What is the question asking?

28. Give concise answers. Pay attention to the marking scheme
if it is 2 or 3 points then you should only be writing a few sentences
and not half a page.

29. Link your answers to course material. Give SPECIFIC examples.
Pretend that the teacher
does not know
what you are talking about
and EXPLAIN what you mean.

30. Proofreading
being sure

31. look over your answers
all spaces in the objective portion are filled in
all short answer questions are numbered appropriately
answers convey what you want to say

32. Helpful web sites Study Guides and Strategies by Joe Landsberger
Helpful interactive site on summarizing for short answers
home page with great things
short answer tests
Test anxiety
Effective Study Skills

33. From Google images
aflsportsready.com.au
student writing
the hand
thehsccenter.com
yoga