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How to Study and Test Taking Strategies:
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Tips for Studying and Organising

• Organise and categorise the material, then review. 
• Develop summary sheets of the course material information.
• Focus on key words, events, vocabulary, concepts. 
• Self -test in your review as much as possible.
• Use online resources, either from your textbook or from educational sites, to practice multiple-choice questions. There are only so many ways that questions can be phrased in a multiple-choice format, so practice writing them.  Learning how to answer multiple-choice questions is a skill.
• When you finish a practice multiple-choice test, review your answers. Look at the questions you answered correctly. What did you do? How did you analyze the question?
• Look at the questions you answered incorrectly. Try to remember what you were thinking when you were choosing your answer. Is there any way you could have used the information in the question differently, to arrive at the correct answer?
• Get enough sleep the night before the test (at least 8 hours).
• Did you eat a healthy dinner and drink lots of water.
• Bring pencils, eraser, pen, and non-graphing calculator.

Tips for Preparing to Write your Test

• Listen closely to any instructions as the teacher hands out the test. 
• Read the directions carefully to avoid careless errors. Many students lose marks because they didn’t follow the directions 
• WRITE your first and last name, block, and date on your test and fill in any other sheets/Scantrons provided 
• Read the test through first Once you have the test paper in front of you, read over the entire test, checking out how long it is and all the parts that you are expected to complete. This will allow you to estimate how much time you have for each section and ask the teacher any questions. If something seems unclear before you start, don't panic: ask. 

Tips for During the Test

• Relax. If you're so nervous that you blank out, you might need a mini-break. Of course you can't get up and move around in the middle of a test, but you can wiggle your fingers and toes, take four or five deep breaths, or picture yourself on a beach or some other calm place. 
• Answer easy questions first to build confidence, score points, and mentally orient yourself to vocabulary, concepts, and your studies. It may also help you make associations with more difficult questions 
• MARK A QUESTION MARK (?) or a STAR (*) next to the difficult questions. As you take the test, if you don't know an answer, don't obsess over it. Instead, answer the best way you can or skip over the question and come back to it after you've answered other questions. 
• Change answers only if you find information elsewhere in the test that indicates that your first choice is incorrect. 
• Ask for Clarification: If you don’t understand what a question is asking, check with the teacher. If the question is not clear to you, it probably is not clear to some other students, as well. 

Tips for Answering Multiple Choice Questions
If the answer sheet is separate from the question sheet, choose the correct answer on the question sheet and then fill in the answer sheet (Scantron). It is important that you stay aware of time,so that you don’t run out of time to transcribe your answers from the question sheet to the answer sheet.


Here is a check list to help organise your strategy:

• Read the stem and focus on the key words (pay attention to qualifying words such as always, major, increase, etc.) or numbers (including units) in the question 
• Quickly WRITE a few points that you recall from your text, lab, notes, etc that relate to the key words 
• Read the stem with each option and treat each option as a true-false question. 
• Eliminate options you know to be incorrect by CROSSING OUT INCORRECT OPTIONS: 
  • Question options that grammatically don't fit with the stem 
  • Question options that are totally unfamiliar to you 
  • Question options that contain negative or absolute words. 
  • With "Look alike options" probably one is correct; compare them for differences, then refer to the stem 
  • Double negatives: Create the equivalent positive statement and consider 
  • Echo options: If two options are opposite each other, chances are one of them is correct 

THEN ... 

• Cover the remaining options, read the stem, and try to answer 
• Select the option that most closely matches your answer 
• Carefully mark the correct answer on your test or scantron 

BUT .... 

• If you know TWO of THREE options seem correct, "ALL OF THE ABOVE" is a strong possibility 

REMEMBER ... 
Don't dismiss an answer because it seems too obvious and simple an answer. 
Don't pick "C" every time you are unsure of the answer as you will end up picking C far too many times.
Don't pick answers based on a pattern of responses

Do change your first answers only when you are sure of the correction, or other cues in the test cue you to change. 
Do guess when you are unsure and use your first instinct 
Do use hints from questions you know 
D0 check your Scantron to make sure only ONE answer has a pencil mark.

Tips for Short Answers

• After reading over the questions, start with the easiest ones.
• CIRCLE the number of points each question is worth
• UNDERLINE the key words or numbers (include units) 
• Reread the question to make sure you have not missed anything or misread the question.
• Brainstorm any ideas before you write an answer
• Respond directly to the question or directive with a focus on keywords and ideas 
• Respond and write concise answers by connecting key facts into short sentences 
• Use complete sentences 
• Start the sentence by restating the question 
• Be neat!

***A guess made with common sense could get you more test points than if you leave an answer blank 


Tips for Essay and Written Questions

• Write a Short Summary of the Question: Make absolutely sure you understand what you are being asked. Writing a summary of the question, particularly for essay questions, will allow you to clear your thinking. It will also give your mind time to organize a possible response.
• Make an Outline: Before answering written or essay questions, summarize your answer with a short outline on scrap paper or in the margin. Your answer will be organized and easier to read. This will also make sure that you do not miss parts of the answer.

Tips for Reviewing Your Test at the End
Make sure you have:

• answered all required questions 
• did not mis-mark answers
• did not make simple mistakes 
• proofread spelling, grammar, punctuation, decimal points, etc. 

Finished already? Spend any extra time checking over your work. You also can add details that you may not have thought you'd have time for. 
OR 
Running out of time? If you have 5 minutes until the bell rings and you're still writing, wind up whatever you're working on without panicking. 

Tips for After the Test

• Ask Questions: Make sure you find out the correct answers to questions with which you had difficulty. If a question is on one test, it may appear on future tests.
• Attend Review Sessions: If there is a chance to go over the test in detail, make sure you go. This will help you learn how to improve your performance on the next test.
• Plan for the Next Test: Recall your performance and note areas where you had difficulty. If you suffered from anxiety, ask your teacher for tips on reducing test-taking stress. Were you tired and unable to focus, or were you hungry? If so, plan to get enough sleep and have a healthy meal before the next test. Learning how to deal with these issues will improve your future performance