Test taking strategies

Before beginning any exam (CBA, STAAR, etc.) you should...

• Focus on any testing anxiety you may have

• Remain calm & know that you are CAPABLE of being successful

• Flip to the end to see how many pages the exam is

Tags

TEKS.ELA.CR.3A

TEKS.ELA.CR.3B

TEKS.ELA.E1.4I

TEKS.ELA.RI.4C

TEKS.ELA.RI.4F

For reading passages, you should...

• Start reading straight away

• Skim through the passage for important information

• Read the last paragraph only

• Read through the questions first

Tags

TEKS.ELA.CR.3D

TEKS.ELA.E1.4I

TEKS.ELA.RI.4C

TEKS.ELA.RI.4D

TEKS.ELA.RI.4F

While reading the passages, you should...

• Annotate (take notes) as you read

• Try to remember the important parts

• Read through it as quickly as possible so you don't forget

Tags

TEKS.ELA.CR.3B

TEKS.ELA.CR.3C

TEKS.ELA.E1.4I

TEKS.ELA.PSW.5A

TEKS.ELA.RI.4G

Annotate means to -

• Highlight information that seems important

• Take note of words you don't know the meaning of

• Summarize paragraphs in the margins

• Highlight parts of questions that stick out/seem important

Tags

TEKS.ELA.CR.3E

TEKS.ELA.RI.1A

TEKS.ELA.RI.4B

TEKS.ELA.RI.4F

TEKS.ELA.RI.4G

What strategy do we use to analyze poetry?

• imagining what it looks like as you read

• S.W.I.F.T.T.

• Make up our own ideas of what the author is meaning

Tags

TEKS.ELA.8.9E

TEKS.ELA.E1.7B

TEKS.ELA.E2.7B

TEKS.ELA.E3.7B

TEKS.ELA.LG.2L

What should you do when there's a word you don't know while reading?

• Do your best without knowing

• Look it up

• Use context clues

• Guess

Tags

TEKS.ELA.CR.3D

TEKS.ELA.CR.5A

TEKS.ELA.E1.4I

TEKS.ELA.PSW.5A

TEKS.ELA.RI.4F

When a question asks about a specific sentence or paragraph, you should...

• Go off your memory

• Go back to specific paragraph/sentence

• Only look at your annotations from that paragraph/sentence

• Look at the paragraph/sentence before or after

Tags

TEKS.ELA.CR.3B

TEKS.ELA.E1.4I

TEKS.ELA.RI.4A

TEKS.ELA.RI.4D

TEKS.ELA.RI.4F

Process of elimination means:

• Eenie, meenie, minie, moe...

• crossing out the obvious wrong answers

• summarizing answer choices

• Finding where they are in the passage

Tags

TEKS.ELA.CR.3B

TEKS.ELA.CR.3C

TEKS.ELA.RI.4C

TEKS.ELA.RI.4D

TEKS.ELA.RI.4E

It's important to find the __________ of every paragraph.

• figurative language example

• beginning, middle, end

• main idea

Tags

TEKS.ELA.3.9D.I

TEKS.ELA.4.9D.I

TEKS.ELA.5.9D.I

TEKS.ELA.PSW.5B

TEKS.ELA.RI.4D

When in doubt, make a(n) __________ !

• phone call

• bad decision

• quick guess

• educated guess

Tags

TEKS.ELA.RI.9C