Test Taking Strategies
- Good readers can quickly pre-read the questions so that they’ll know how to wrap their heads around the information that they’ll be reading for…. Setting a purpose for reading.
- There are usually 2 answers that you can eliminate, right away, as being silly… then select between the remaining two.
- Never select an answer until you read all 4 responses, then select the best one
- If you don’t know what you’ve read, reread it!
- Look back into the text to find the answer of a specific question (if you can’t remember)
- Always read the title… it summarizes what you’ll read about.
- For older readers look and read the headers for information that you’re about to read…
- If you don’t understand a word, keep reading because you can usually figure out the meaning through the contextual clues
- If it’s a name you can’t pronounce, do the best you can with it, and then use that pronunciation throughout the whole piece… don’t get hung up on the small details!
- Always make a mini movie in your head about what you’ve just read… summarize along the way of your reading
- Make sure you are bubbling in the correct answer for the correct question! Are you on question 2 but bubbling question 3??? Do this periodically throughout the test
- Maybe use a marker on your scantron sheet to be sure you’re bubbling correctly…
- Pay attention to the directions. Do the directions ask you to look specifically at a numbered paragraph or a numbered sentence. Know the difference.
- Some questions are specific to sections of a passage. You may not need to read the entire passage to find the answer
- Also, don’t spend a lot of time on one question, skip it, circle the problem in the book, and come back if you have time. It’s better to miss one than many
- If you don’t get it, take your best guess and move on…. You’re not expected to know it all
