Test Taking Methods; What Works Best for You?

Ali Rivera 

The Paw Print

Finals are approaching! That means a whole week full of tests. However, there are many different strategies that you can keep in mind for when you’re taking your final or for a future test. These methods are supposed to improve your test taking skills and improve your grades when testing.

Bring extra pens or pencils. This will allow you to have a backup in case the original pen or pencil stop working for some reason. This way if you are in the middle of your test and your pen or pencil go out you have a backup instead of being stranded.

Bring a watch or a self-timer. Being in a testing environment can get you in your own little world and make you tend to forget time, especially when your head is in the zone. Yet if you bring a watch or a self-timer, it will help you pace yourself throughout the test so you don’t have to panic and rush through the test.

Keep a positive attitude! Thinking overly about a test can slump your attitude and make you anxious. The first thing you need to do to change this is to take a deep breath and relax.

Look over the material before beginning! When you take a test it will help to look over the material to see how you can begin. This also is a method to help you pace yourself during the test.

Do the easiest problems first! On test there are certain questions that may come easy to you. Be sure to knock out the easy problems before you go onto the harder problems. Don’t stay on one problem that has you stuck, especially if the test is timed. Try moving to the harder questions once you completed the easier problems, then you can spend the majority of the time working of those tougher problems.

Ask the instructor for clarification if you don’t understand! Taking an exam there are different questions requiring different answers. So if you look at a question and don’t know how to answer it, ask the professor for what he is asking for. This way you can answer the question with the right answer instead of the “maybe” answer.

Read the whole question! We tend to skim the pages and answers when taking a test. However many others found that they got higher scores on their test by not skimming the test but actually reading the test. If you read the test, you will have a better understanding of what the question is actually asking you instead of assuming what the question was asking, that way you can get the right answers along with a higher score on your test.

Don’t rush! Others may complete the test before you. However don’t let that distract you away from your own test! Make sure you take your time and not worry about when others are done. If you rush, that could lead to a low grade on your test due to not reading the entire question thoroughly. Make sure you take your time focus on your own test.