Cougar Mentor Program

Student Success Tips
 

Exam Strategies

Preparation:

• Learn the exam format i.e. facts vs. concepts

• Review the course outline, notes and Quick Study Chart

• Review previous test, check at departmental office

• Summarize highlights on single sheet

Memory Dump:

• At the beginning of the test, write down on scrap paper everything you can remember (formulas, facts, names, etc.).

• Scan the test questions and then do a second memory dump and begin the test.

Objective Exams:

• Scan the exam to determine the types of questions asked.

• Always read and follow directions!

• Determine the exam’s scoring rules and use them. If wrong answers are penalized, don’t guess unless you can reduce the choices to two.

• Answer easy questions first.

• Mark difficult questions and return to them later.

• True-False questions:

• Pick out key words or group of words on which the truth or falsity of a statement hinges.

• If any clause in a statement is false, the statement is false.

• Multiple-choice questions:

• Multiple choice questions are essentially true-false questions arranged in groups.

• Usually only one alternative is totally correct.

• Eliminate obvious false choices.

• Of the remainder, pick the alternative that answers most fully all aspects of the question.

Essay Exams:
Planning your time in answering essay questions is more important than in objective-type tests!

• Ready through the entire examination first.

• Get a fell for the questions you are expected to answer.

• If the exam allow you to choose from a number of questions, be sure to number your answers exactly to match the questions.

Follow directions carefully.

• Pay attention to the key words in the questions.

• (Words such as list, describe, compare and contrast, and outline require different types of answers.)

• Don’t “write around” the question but answer it directly and concisely.

Outlining

• After scanning the list of questions to be answered, choose the ones you know most about. (On scrap paper quickly prepare the outline of important ideas and facts to be included in your response.)

• Your opening statement summarizes what you are going to say.

• What follows should support your opening statement.

• Your conclusion should show how your body text supported your opening statement.

It is absolutely essential that your ideas can be read and understood.