General Test TakingStrategies

Day 2

Maintain your Brain

• Eat a good breakfast.• Snacks at break are

allowed and many schools provide these to students.

• At break, hang out on your own. Don’t sit around and talk about how bad, tough, or frustrating the test is with your peers.

• Get at least 8-10 hours of sleep

Know the Instructions

Directions were provided to you at Workshop 1. Please take the time to look them over, read them so you don’t have to waste time on test day to read them. You could save yourself up to 3 minutes!

Be prepared

• Check out your PLAN or EXPLORE results to see areas you should brush up on.

• Check with the counseling office or a teacher to find your results.

Use Time Wisely

• If you finish a test early, go back and check your work.

• Keep a steady pace.• Don’t sleep, stare out

the window, or think about what you are doing after the test.

Answer easy questions FIRST

• Answer the questions that you KNOW you know first.

• Circle questions that you are unsure of or need more time to think about.

• Read questions first.

Avoid Carelessness

• Odd numbered questions are lettered A, B, C, D (math: A, B, C, D, E)

• Even numbered questions are F, G, H, J (math F, G, H, J, K)

Work is Work, Bubbling is Bubbling

• Don’t go back and forth between your answer sheet and the test booklet. You can loose focus.

• Do chunks of questions then bubble those answers on the answer sheet.

Never, Ever Leave a Bubble Empty

• Always eliminate as many answer choices as possible and then guess (educated guess)

• ALWAYS GUESS if you don’t know

Process of Elimination (POE)

• Applies to all multiple choice questions

• Eliminate wrong answers

• Cross wrong answers out on the test booklet

POE Strategy 1

EXTREMES

Pay attention to the adjectives and adverbs used in the answer choices. Descriptors that sound extreme, such as hateful or ecstatic, are often too extreme and may

indicate an incorrect answer choices.

POE Strategy 2

ABSOLUTES

Beware of answer choices with absolutes. Words like always, never, everyone, and all

usually indicate a wrong answer choice.

POE Strategy 3

BAIT AND SWITCH

Watch out for answer choices that use the EXACT same wording as the passage because it’s usually a trick! Correct

answers are always a paraphrase of the actual passage and will not include the

exact same wording.

POE Strategy 4

NOT MENTIONED, BUT SOUNDS GOOD

Look out for answer choices that sound correct based on what you read

but that were never actually mentioned in the passage.

Who was the tenth president of the United States?

• Bill Clinton• Abraham Lincoln• Chris Rock• John Tyler• Al Gore

Question Stem Word/Phrases

The primary purpose of the passage…

The passage asserts

The authors purpose

The main function of the second paragraph

It can be reasonably deduced

As it is defined in the passage

The passage suggests…

The author states…

According to the passage…

The passage indicates…

The author claims…

It can be reasonably inferred…

The primary focus of lines 30-50…

The author’s attitude toward the subject

Just think about it

Just look it up

Look it up and read 1-2 lines before and

1-2 lines after

Look it up and think about it