2. STRATEGIES for Test Taking Lee Darby, MEd San Diego Community College District

3. Test Taking Test scores may not reflect competence Test taking is a skill that can be improved with practice Improvement can be made before during after an exam is given

4. Before the Exam Know stuff! Study Keep Up Talk/Work with classmates

5. Before the Exam Attitude Beliefs/self-image affect performance Describe research study Examine self

6. Before the Exam Sleep (better than study at some point) Comfort (materials, organization, water, relaxation techniques)

7. During the Exam Think like the test writer Why is the question on the exam What is the test writer looking for What is the point (objective)

8. During the Exam Estimation What should answer look like? What kind of number or size? Does each answer seem connected to question?

9. During the Exam Elimination Most of the answers are wrong Eliminate wrong answers to confirm correct answer

10. During the Exam Back Engineering Most useful in math or chemistry Take each answer to see if it is correct

11. During the Exam Look for Context Clues Which word tells what the problem is about Identify key words

12. During the Exam Time Management Watch clock to help, not to pressure Look at the average time for each question Better to do many easy questions than a few hard ones

13. During the Exam Easy Questions: Answer them and move on Hard Ones: Mark and return to them later after finishing the easy ones. If no time left, guess on these. No Clue: Mark, Guess, and Go

14. Some examples…

15. Examples Which of the following principles of elevator engineering applies in adjusting cable tension? A Torque should exceed 28 ft lbs/sec B Door alignment should be from bottom C Cable tension must not exceed rating of pulley assembly D Tension must be adjusted at each level

16. Examples What is the value of 2032 2 ? A 4,124 B 41,902 C 4,129,024 D 412390124

17. Examples What is the value of x where: A 2.5 B 3 C 5 D 9

19. After the Exam Exams are reviewed with you Discover why you missed the questions you missed: Studied wrong material Missed the point of the question Didn’t understand the question Fell for a trick Other reason

20. After the Exam Analyze the key words Identify the clues Look for connections you could have made

21. After the Exam Reflect Identify strengths / weaknesses on exam Think about how you could have used better strategy Make plans for next exam

22. Prepare Strategize Reflect Improve skill with each exam you take

23. Keep getting better And better

24. TO TEST BETTER!