Study Tip #13
HOW TO TAKE OBJECTIVE TESTS TO GET THE HIGHEST SCORE POSSIBLE

Introduction 

Objective tests are true-false tests, multiple-choice tests, matching tests and fill-in-the-blank tests. They don't ask you to write an essay. You have to respond to the choices given to you.

There are good techniques that you can use to get the most out of your knowledge.

However, remember that nothing beats studying! People who know their subject are able to get much higher scores on tests than people who are good at test-taking but who do not know the subject. So study!

Read carefully and get the exact meaning of words. This is the most important advice.

• Read slowly enough that you understand the meaning of everything that your present degree of knowledge allows you to understand. Many students read too quickly. When you read too fast, your brain will not have time enough to retrieve the meanings of words and phrases, and losing meanings is dangerous. When you are worried, be careful to read slowly.
• Read the directions carefully. Read until you understand them exactly. Do not skip the directions. Follow them! Successful test-takers are careful to read directions.
• There are several ways to know that you understand the meanings. (1) Talk to yourself and translate difficult words into your own words. (2) Make mental images of the ideas. Visualize them. (3) Imagine how things move and feel.
• It can be hard to understand uncommon words. You can often clear up their meanings by using simpler words and making a mental movie using them. Example: “A patient was moved from the prone position to the erect position.” Visualize a person in a bed being moved from lying down to sitting up.
• Research shows that students often misunderstand words and phrases that describe relationships. When you see sentences which compare two persons, categories, times, situations, etc., then you should slow down. You can clear up their meanings by making a little table with a column for the traits of each thing being compared.

How to Recall Forgotten Information.

Here is a general way to recall information. You will prepare by going into “retrieval mode”. It is a distinct way of thinking that helps memories come to the surface. Recalling memories always starts with retrieval cues: the words and ideas in the teacher’s questions, your own translation of the words of the test into mental images and your own associations which finally trigger your recall of the memory. Here is retrieval mode:

• Prepare to notice your own thoughts and simultaneously to turn your attention away from the external world.
• Let yourself expect to need time—30 seconds to a minute in a test situation.
• Start thinking of additional retrieval cues related to the wanted knowledge. Think of more cues than the ones provided by the teacher’s test question.
• As your mind produces associations, one will lead to another. Notice them. Follow them to the goal of recalling the wanted knowledge.
• If you cannot recall it after a brief hunt, let yourself move on and later return to the question.

On multiple-choice tests read all of the answer options before choosing one. 

Why? Because the test might contain two answers that sound good, and only one might be precisely right. You need to check them all.

How to Handle a Time Limit.

• Check the time allowed and the number of questions. Figure out how many questions you have to answer each minute in order to finish. Try to work at that rate.
• Work first on the easier questions.
• Mark the questions that you have not answered and do them later.
• If you finish before the time is up, read over the test again and check your work.
• If some questions are worth more points than others and your time is short, consider doing them first.

How to Handle Questions That You Do Not Know the Answers to.

• Find answer options that you are sure are wrong. Eliminate them. Choose one of the remaining ones.
• Check whether two answer options say the same thing in different words. If they do, it means they both must be wrong, unless you are allowed to pick two correct answers.
• Check whether two answer options directly contradict each other. If they do, you know that one must be wrong. Possibly both. Use it as a clue.

Use key words as clues. Look for:

• When you see sentences that claim something is ALWAYS or NEVER true, be suspicious. There might be exceptions. The teacher may be overstating a point to try to trick careless students. It is possible, though it is not certain, that an answer option with a word like that will be wrong.
• On the other hand, when you see sentences that say something may be GENERALLY true or PERHAPS true, remember that those words allow for exceptions and may be right.
• Be careful! Most teachers know that students know about those words. They might try to trick you.

It is Safe to Change Answers.

Should you change an answer if you are unsure of it? Yes, but not on a whim.

Research on test-taking has shown that people who change answers for a good reason get higher scores than people who stick with the first answer. But be sure you have remembered new information.

Should you guess when you are not sure?

• Yes, when you are not sure of an answer, you should make a guess.
• Why? Because if there are five possible answer options, you have a one-in-five chance of getting it right. If you have ruled out one or two options as wrong, your chances are even higher. But if you do not guess, you have no chance at all. If you guess on five questions, you may get one or two more right.
• Even if the directions tell you that there is a penalty for guessing, you should usually still guess. It will usually improve your score.
• Why? Because all that a guessing penalty does is to subtract a certain percentage of wrong answers, and you might be right. The worst that usually happens is that you will come out even. So guess!

How to Cope With Feeling Tired, Nervous, in Pain and Other Stresses.

• When people are under stress but are able to concentrate, they can do almost as well on tests as when they are relaxed and feeling fit. Your mind may wander. But make sure you keep returning your mind to the test questions. Keep thinking of their meanings. Keep thinking of associations. As long as you can do that, you have a fair chance of succeeding.
• If you are jumpy, use your finger or your pencil to guide your eyes along the words of the questions.

Handle mechanical details carefully.

• Mark answers carefully. Don't accidentally mark the wrong answer.
• If your teacher has you answer on an answer sheet that will be scored by an automatic scoring machine, make your marks heavy and dark.
• Do not make stray marks elsewhere on the answer, because the machine may mark them as wrong answers.
• If you have to change an answer, follow the directions carefully so that the machine does not pick up the answer you changed.

What to Do If You Think the Teacher Has Made a Mistake.

• Sometimes, teachers write bad questions. You may read a question and think there are two answers or no answer. Sometimes, you will see ambiguous wording.
• If the teacher permits students to ask questions during the test, you should ask!
• You may also write a note to the teacher. (Do not write on a machine-scored answer sheet.) You should explain your thinking. Explain why you chose the answer you did, what it meant to you. Explain why you rejected another answer that may be the obvious choice on the surface, but that contains a trap. If you do this, your teacher may give you part credit even if you are partly wrong.
• When the teacher returns the test and reports the correct answers, you may wonder why an answer is correct and why your choice is wrong. It is all right to ask respectfully why the teacher thinks it is correct.
• Don't be hostile. An honest teacher can either explain it or will admit a mistake.
• If you still believe that your teacher has penalized you unfairly and will not change, then consult your school's Student Bill of Rights and follow the procedure to make a protest.

Get more help on test-taking methods.

Take Effective Learning in the Academic Learning Skills Department. You can also buy one of several commercially published books on test-taking skills.

(Dan Hodges. 7/07)

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