If you do guess at any of the objective questions and expect that your
test paper will be returned to you, place a little dot or other symbol
beside them. That way you will be able to assess how successful your
guessing was.
If there is time during a test for you to come back to questions and
think about them one more time, go ahead and cross out the answers
you know aren’t correct. That will simply save you time. You will
ignore the answers that are struck out and concentrate on the ones
that remain. A small point, but it can save you several seconds per
question.
When you think you have finished a whole section, double-check
to make sure you really have. Look on the answer sheet or in the
blue book to make sure all the questions have been answered.
You WillFollow the Instructions!
Read and understand the directions. If you’re supposed to check off
every correct answer to each question in a multiple-choice test—and
you’re assuming only one answer to each question is correct—you’re
going to miss a lot of answers!
If you’re to pick one essay question out of three, or two out of
five, you will almost certainly run out of time if you try to answer
every one. Even if you do manage to complete all five, the teacher
will probably only grade the first two. Because you allocated so
much time to the other three, it’s highly doubtful your first two
answers will be detailed and polished enough to earn a good grade.
If there are pertinent facts or formulas you’re afraid you’ll forget, write
them down somewhere in your test booklet before you do anything
else. It won’t take much time, and it could save you some serious
memory jogs later.
190 How to Study