1. Chapter 11 Taking Tests
Casey Domnick and Kylie Mills

2. Chapter Goals
This chapter will help you…
• Learn general test-taking strategies
• Learn specific strategies for studying for multiple-choice
tests
• Learn specific strategies for studying for essay tests
• Identify strategies for writing good answers to essay
questions
• Adopt coping skills for handling test anxiety

3. Norm-Referenced Versus Criterion-
Referenced Tests
• Norm Referenced- score is determined by the
performance of others in the class aka grading on the
curve.
• Criterion referenced- score is simply a measure of
how well you performed

4. Before The Test
• Sleep- All nighters are a bad idea. A good night’s sleep
before an exam is the best idea.
• Eat- If test in morning make sure to eat breakfast. Long-
term healthy eating is a must.

5. During The Test
• Relax- When nervous you don’t perform well. Stay calm and don’t
panic.
• Pick Your Spot- Find a spot in the classroom that makes you
comfortable.
• Preview the Whole Test- Before you begin look through each
page of the test. There are 4 stages to completing a test.
1. Find parts of the test you know well and do that first.
2. Look back through the test and identify what parts will be most difficult
and do those last.
3. Attack rest of test.
4. Pace Yourself- After previewing the test you will know how quickly you
need to finish the easy stuff and how much time you need for the difficult
stuff.

6. Answering Objective Questions
• Multiple Choice
• Matching
• Fill-in-the-blank
• Definitional
• Definitional Multiple-Choice
• Conceptual Multiple-Choice

7. Multiple Choice
Strategies for Multiple Choice Tests: R.E.A.D.Y.
1. Read entire questions
2. Examine all answer choices
3. Alternative interpretations
4. Delete non-plausible choices
5. Yield

8. R.E.A.D.Y.
1. Read entire question
▫ You may think you know what the question is saying but if you don’t read all the
▫ way through you may miss something.
1. Examine all answer choices
▫ Beware of questions that have an intuitively appealing answer that is incorrect.
▫ If that answer is one of the first choices you may select it without considering all of the
answers.
1. Alternative Interpretations
▫ Make sure that the question is really asking what you think it is by
 A. Checking all relevant terms and concepts
 B. Making sure you’re not thinking of something else from another part of the course.
1. Delete non-plausible choices
▫ Cross out those you are not considering to cut down on information you are processing
1. Yield
▫ Take one last look at the question to make sure you have not underestimated the difficulty
of the question or made the question more difficult than it is.

9. Matching
• A set of definitions or examples for course concepts in one column and the corresponding
concepts in another.
Fill-in-the-blank
• Questions that require you to complete a sentence by filling in a missing word. Requires
• Recall memory
Definitional
• Listing of a variety of concepts along the left-hand side and ask you to provide a definition
Definitional Multiple-Choice Questions
• You can answer these correctly if you know the definition of the concept being tested.
Conceptual Multiple-Choice
• Requires the application of a course concept.
• Must be familiar with the concept to define it.
• Must recognize when that concept is being applied.

10. Essay Tests
• Two kinds of essay questions:
1. Those that do not require thinking
2. Those that do require thinking

11. Essay questions that do not require
thinking
• Defining Concepts
▫ The professor decides what content they’re interested in testing,
and designs a question that requires students to access that
concept from memory
▫ The problem with this approach is that it doesn’t require much
beyond memorization of course concepts.

12. Essay questions that do require
thinking
• This more demanding type may require you to:
▫ Apply-use your knowledge of course concepts. You may have to
think of examples, or identify when a course concept is being
used.
▫ Integrate- A question may ask you to integrate across several
concepts or course themes.
 ex.- how does A relate to B? What are the components of A?
 Having a good outline in your head will help you with
integrative essay questions
▫ Analyze- Sometimes essay questions ask you to analyze a
particular situation based on what you have learned in the course.
 It is important to “show-off” by demonstrating that you can use
what you have learned.

13. Writing a goo answer to an essay
question
• W.O.R.K.
▫ Writes well-make sure your answer is organized, and
sentences are clear. Write neatly.
▫ Outlines- think before you write. Jot down an outline
at the top of the page, or form a mental outline.
▫ Ready for all questions- practice writing.
▫ Keen responses- answers that are sharp, to the
point and use information from the course.

14. Test Anxiety
• Students do not do as well as they could on tests because
they are overly worried about their performance
• Best cure for anxiety is to be fully prepared.
▫ The more you study, the less nervous you feel.
• Anxiety can be broken down into two parts:
▫ Emotionality
▫ Cognitive Interference

15. Emotionality
• A component of test anxiety referring to the
physiological parts. Including
sweating, tenseness, increased heart rate and so forth.
• Relax Response:
▫ Sit quietly
▫ relax your muscles
▫ breath through your nose

16. Cognitive Interference
• Occurs when anxiety disrupts your ability to
process information.
▫ Ex. “I knew the material, but as soon as I took the
test I couldn’t think of the answers.”
 1. ask the professor for extra time
 2. ask the professor to let you take the test in the
academic support center

17. Tests as learning tools
• Test yourself frequently
▫ Have friends ask you questions
• Get use to the pressure and evaluation
▫ Prepares you for the real world