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Test Taking Tips

Tests measure how you are doing in a course. Usually test scores are the key determinants of your course grade. Doing well on tests requires test-taking skills, a purposeful positive attitude, strategic thinking and planning, and, naturally, a solid grasp of the course content. This article contains tips that apply to all types of tests: additional tips are available for problem solving tests, objective tests, and essay tests. How to prepare for tests

1. Familiarize yourself with the test. Ask the professor how long it will be and what kind of questions will be on it. Ask your instructor which concepts are most important, which chapters to focus on, and what you will have to do on the test. Also ask for some sample test questions, and whether there is a copy of a similar test on file in a library. Look over the tests you have already taken in the course to predict what you will need to prepare for. Your aim is to determine both the content of the questions and the type of memory/intellectual skills you will be asked to use. Examples of these skills include:
   • Remembering specific facts
   • Comparing, contrasting, and otherwise interpreting meaning in the information studied.
   • Applying principles and theories to solve problems (that may not have been covered explicitly in the materials).
   • Predicting possible outcomes given a set of variables.
   • Evaluating the usefulness of certain ideas, concepts, or methods for a given event or situation.

1. Overview all the work to be done and schedule time to do it. On the basis of your familiarity with the test, make a list of all the tasks you must complete to prepare for it. Given what topics you expect to be most important on the test, set priorties among your study tasks and plan to do the most important ones first. In scheduling your test preparation work, keep as much as possible to your own routines. If you do not know how to make a study schedule, refer to the article on time management.
2. Aviod the "escape syndrome". If you find yourself fretting or talking about your work rather than studying, relax for a few minutes and rethink what you are doing - reappraise your priorities and if necessary rethink your study plan to address your worries and then START WORKING.
3. Deal with unread materials - succinctly. Approach your unread materials keeping in mind all of your study plan, how much time you have to catch up on your reading, and what it is you need to pull out of the reading. Preview the material, dividing it up into parts, looking for the organizational scheme of the work. Decide what parts in the reading you can omit, what parts you can skim, and what parts you want to read. Set time limits for each part, and keep to the limites. Use the following techniques to help move through the reading:
   • Skim all the reading material first (except the parts you have decided to omit) so you will have at least looked at everything before the test. Take notes on what you skim.
   • Read, emphasizing key sentences and concentrating on understanding the ideas expressed. Try editorializing as you read by asking yourself questions regarding WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, and HOW about the information.
   • Recite the material to yourself immediately, self-testing at the end of each part to enhance recall even without later review.
4. Review actively. Intregrate notes, text, and supplementary information onto summary sheets by diagramming, charing, outlining, categorizing in tables, or simply writing paragraph summaries of the information. Try to create a summary sheet for each study session, or for each main idea, or for each concept. Use as many of the suggested ways possible, bringing all your senses as well as you sense of humor to bear on these summary sheets to make them really personally meaningful. The more of yourself you put into these sheets, the better you will remember the information.
5. Practice doing what you will be doing on the test. If you will be solving problems, then that is what you need to do while studying; if you will be conjugating Spanish verbs, then write these out. Answer unassigned problems or questions in the text or anticipate test questions my thinking frequently, 'If I were making up this test, I would probably ask...', and then answer your question. Remember, the single most effective way to prepare for any test is to practive doing what you will have to do on the test.

6. It is frequently useful to study with other well-prepared students and to attend any review sessions if available. Use these forums to clarify any questions you have about the materials and the test. Do not expect review sessions to repeat any lectures not to present any addition information. The purpose of these sessions is to give you the op[portunity to ask questions about the information to further your understanding.

How to take tests:

2. Arrive at the test room early enought to arrange your working conditions, establishing a calm and alert mode. Select a seat where the lighting is the best (frequently in the front of the room) and where your view of other students will be minimized.

3. When you receive your test, use the back to jot down all the information you are worried you might forget. Remember first to ask whether you can write on the test form itself.

4. Preview the whole test before beginning to answer any questions. Make sure your copy has no missing or duplicate pages. Ask the instructor or proctor to clarify any abmiguities. Read the directions carefully.

5. Plan your time. Allow the most time for the questions which offer the most points. Allocate time at the end to review.

6. Start with the easy questions to build your confidence and to gain time for the harder ones. Work the entire test: put some anwer down for each questions even if you must guess (unless there is a "correction for guessing").

7. Do not panic if you see a question you did not anticipate or prepare for. Use everything you know about the content of the course, the instructor's explanations and your own reasoning ability to analyze the question and create a logical answer. Go for partial credei when you know you cannopt get all the points: if you have studied, you are bound to know something.

8. Read the question as is. Avoid overanalyzing or oversimplifying, or you will end up answering a questions that exists only in your mind, not on the grading key. Answer the question the testmaker intended: interpret the test within the scope of the course.

1. Read all the questions through rapidly, jotting down beside each question any pertinent facts or ideas which occur to you. The best way to ensure that your answers do not overlap each other is to survey the entire test before answering any of the que stions.
2. Estimate the time that you will have for each question according to the relative difficulty and importance of all questions. Then keep track of your time so that you don't spend too much time on any one question.
3. Answer the easiest questions first and concentrate on answering one question at a time. Getting down to work on something you can handle is the surest way to reduce your test anxiety.
4. Decide what kind of answer the question requires before you begin writing. Action verbs such as "illustrate", "list", "define", "compare", "trace", "explain", and "identify" require different approaches to answering.
5. Before you start writing, make a brief, logical outline for your answer to ensure good organization and prevent careless omissions. It's not how much you say but what you say and how well you say it that counts.
6. Get down to business in your first paragraph and avoid long-winded introductions. Your aim in answering most essay questions is to get down the maximum amount of point-earning information in the shortest possible time.
7. Where appropriate, include factual details to support your answer. These impress your instructor by giving evidence that you really know what you are talking about.
8. Write legible, complete sentences and paragraphs.
9. Leave space after each question for additional information which may occur to you later.
10. Re-read your answers -- do they say what you intended? Correct all grammar and spelling errors.
11. If you run out of time, outline the remaining information.
    
    Suggestions for objective tests

1. Answer all questions in order without skipping or jumping around. Identify doubtful answers by marking in the margin and recheck these as time permits after all questions have been answered.
2. Do not linger too long on any one question. Mark your best guess and move on, returning later if you have sufficient time.
3. Reread all questions containing negative wording such as "not" or "least". Be especially alert for the use of double or even triple negatives within a sentence, as these must be read very carefully to assure full understanding.
4. Check for qualifying words such as "all-most-some-none", "always-usually-seldom-never", "best-worst", or "smallest-largest". When you see one of these qualifiers, test for truth by substituting the other members of the series. If your substitution m akes a better statement, the question is false; if your substitution does not make a better statement, the question is true.
5. Watch for modifying or limiting phrases inserted into the true/false questions. Instructors often use inserted names, dates, places, or other details to make a statement inaccurate.
6. Be alert for multiple ideas or concepts within the same true/false statement. All parts of the statement must be true or the entire statement is false.
7. Be alert for grammatical inconsistencies between the question stem and the answer choices on multiple-choice questions. A choice is almost always wrong if it and the stem do not make a grammatically correct sentence.
8. Be cautious about changing your answer to a true-false or multiple-choice question without a good reason. Your first "guess" is more likely to be correct than are subsequent "guesses", so be sure to have a sound reason for changing our answer.
9. Apply the same approach to answering both true/false and multiple-choice questions. The same techniques will work equally well for both, since multiple-choice questions are basically true/false questions arranged in groups.
10. On matching exercises, work with only one column at a time. Match each item in that column against all items in the second column until you find a proper match, marking through matches about which you are certain, so that it will be easier to match o ut the rest about which you are unsure.
    
    Suggestions for problem tests

1. Write down hard-to-remember formulas, equations, and rules before you actually begin working on the test problems.
2. If you are unable to work a problem, go on to the next one and come back to it later if time permits.
3. Even if you know that your answer is wrong, turn in your work, because you may get part credit for using the right process.
4. Show all the steps in your work and clearly identify or label your answer so that it can be quickly found.
5. Whenever possible, recheck all answers in a different way from that employed when you did the work. For example, add down a column of figures when rechecking if you added up the column when you first solved the problem.
6. Take time to write legibly and make your corrections, if any, as neat as possible. Most instructors react subjectively to the appearance of papers to be graded, so let neatness work for you rather than against you.
7. Leave ample space between your answers.You may need it for new ideas or additional details when you return later to re-read what you have written.
8. If you encounter a question that you think you can't answer, leave it to be answered last, but don't leave it unanswered. You may get partial credit for even a poor answer, especially if everyone else also had trouble answering this same question.