Test+taking+skills


 * Test Taking Skills **

Test-taking starts LONG before the unit test or final exam! Here are some tips and tricks for getting the best score you can get on any test you ever have to write, from your Social Studies Chapter 8 test, to your Driver's test!

Some of these tips are more appropriate for finals, others work well for unit tests (or all tests!). The way you approach a multiple-choice exam will be different to the way you approach an essay test or a skills-based (math, English) test. There are some links below to some tips and tricks pages for specific kinds of tests. However, there are some things that ALL tests have in common!

Before the Test: 1. Preparation for the test starts on day ONE of the class or course! You need to do five things to be successful at school: Show up, be prepared to learn, do your best on all the work, hand in the work, and ask for help if you need it! (See the 'Tips for Success' page for more detail on these). 2. Budget your time: make sure you have enough time to study before the exam or test (your teacher will usually give you several days notice of a test; everyone knows that there will be a final exam for their course at the end of the semester--you have had 5 months to study!) 3. Go to any review sessions your teacher might hold. Ask your teacher what will be emphasised on the test and take notes on any of it that you don't fully understand. 4. Go over any material from notes, homework, assignments, practice tests, the textbook, and any other handouts or information you might have. 5. Get lots of sleep the night before a test. Studies have shown that each hour of sleep that you lose effectively drops your IQ by about 10 points. Staying up to read your notes three or four more times is useless when you're so tired you can't read the questions on the test! 6. Eat before a test. Have a good breakfast or a good lunch; just don't stuff yourself so much that you want to sleep--remember how you feel after Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner! 7. Put the main ideas/formulas/information on one sheet of paper that can be quickly reviewed many times over. Preparing this sheet is a great form of studying because you have to reduce your pages and pages of notes by reading them over and finding the main ideas--which means you're not just reading, you're THINKING ABOUT what you read. Writing the main points down means you have to put them in your own words...again, forcing you to think! 8. Set an alarm (and a backup alarm), so you are not late--especially for a final exam. If you miss the final, you cannot re-take it later! 9. Aim to show up at least 10 minutes before the test or exam is scheduled to start (of course, if it's during classtime, like a unit test, just show up as quickly as you can after your previous class--test day is not the day to socialize in the hall). 10 Go to the bathroom before the test. During finals, a teacher has to walk you to the bathroom (embarrassing!). You don't want to be thinking about how badly you need to use the toilet during a test!

During the Test: --Bring at least two pens/pencils with good erasers, a calculator with enough batteries and any other resources that your instructor allows you to. Don't bring anything you're NOT allowed (iPod, phone, etc) --Bring a watch to the test so that you can better pace yourself. NOT your cell phone--during exams, teachers have to confiscate them, and if you forget to get yours back (or someone takes yours by accident) it could be gone forever! --Keep a positive attitude throughout the whole test and try to stay relaxed. If you start to feel nervous take a few deep breaths to relax. --Keep your eyes on your own paper, you don't want to appear to be cheating and cause unnecessary trouble for yourself. As far as teachers are concerned, if it looks like cheating, it is. For the same reason, never talk while there are test papers out--leaning over to innocently borrow someone's eraser can result in a 0. --When you first receive your test, do a quick survey of the entire test so that you know how to efficiently budget your time. If the test is out of 100 and the essay question is worth 30 marks, you probably want to spend about 1/3 of your time on it. --Do the easiest problems first. Don't stay on a problem that you are stuck on, especially when time is a factor. Mark the questions you want to go back to, so you don't forget. --Do the problems that have the greatest point values first. --Pace yourself; don't rush. Read the //entire question// and pay attention to the details. --Ask the instructor for clarification if you don't understand what they are asking for on the test. --Write legibly. If the grader can't read what you wrote, they'll most likely mark it wrong. --Always //read the whole question carefully//. Don't make assumptions about what the question might be. --If you don't know an answer, skip it. Go on with the rest of the test and come back to it later. Other parts of the test may have some information that will help you out with that question --Don't worry if others finish before you. Focus on the test in front of you. --If you have time left when you are finished, look over your test. Make sure that you have answered all the questions. Only change an answer if you misread or misinterpreted the question because the first answer that you put is usually the correct one. --Watch out for careless mistakes and proofread your essay and/or short answer questions. --Double check to make sure that you put your first and last name on the test. --If there are no penalties for guessing incorrectly, make sure you have SOMETHING in each blank. The worst thing that will happen is it will be wrong--which it would have been if you didn't write anything, anyway. The best thing that will happen is you will get part marks.

After the Test:
 * When you get your test back look it over and make sure that there are no grading mistakes.
 * Look over the test and make sure that you understand your mistakes. If you don't know the answer to a question, look it up, ask a classmate or ask the teacher.
 * If the teacher reviews the test in class, be sure to take notes on what the teacher wanted for an answer on the questions/problems that you got wrong.
 * If you aren't satisfied with your grade, go to your instructor and see if there's a make-up exam or any extra credit you can do. THERE MAY NOT BE. In fact, there usually isn't. But you can ask, politely.
 * Save the test as study material for future cumulative tests, if you are allowed to do so.

[|Multiple-Choice Tests] [|True/False] [|Essay] [|Oral] [|Short Answer] [|Quantitative/Math] [|Open Book]

Information adapted from testtakingtips.com