Test Taking Strategies

You are given a passage to read, what do you do first?

• Skip to the last paragraph and read it.

• Skim it.

• Read the title and subheadings, number the paragraphs, and start to read carefully.

• Just start reading.

You have 4 answer choices, which answers should you get rid of first?

• The ones I know are wrong (trash).

• One that seems like it could be a trick.

• Don’t answer! Flag or bookmark it but leave it blank.

You have a question that asks you to define a word you don’t know from a sentence in the text, and it gives you 4 choices. How should you tackle this question?

• Substitute the definitions you are given for the unknown word. Choose the one that makes the most sense in the phrase or sentence.

• Guess.

• Try to define the word on your own, then look for choices that are close to your definition.

The steps to annotate a text are…

• 1. Skim the text

  2. Answer the questions

• 1. Number the paragraphs

  2.Write a short summary after each paragraph

  3.Highlight important information

  4.Circle unknown words

• 1. 1.Read the subheadings

  2. 2.Read the questions

  3. 3.Answer the questions

  4. 4.Reread the text

• 1.Number the paragraphs

  2.Highlight important information

  3.Answer the questions

If you have 180 minutes to complete the test, and it is about 45 questions long, (about) how long should you spend on each question.

• 30 seconds

• 1 minute

• 20 minutes

• 2 minutes

There are 10 minutes left in the test and you haven’t answered all of the questions, what should you do?

• Randomly guess to get them all answered.

• Leave some blank.

• Put an answer for ALL questions, even if I have to make an educated guess.

• Review the answers for questions you have already answered.

A test strategy i can use is to write my OWN answer to the question BEFORE look at my choices, then pick the choice that most closely matches my own answer.

• TRUE

• FALSE

If the question asks me to choose the BEST answer, I know that...

• All of the answers will be partially true, and I need to find the one that is the most general.

• All the answers will be partially true, I need to find the best one.

• None of the answers are true and I should leave it blank, because it's a trick.

• None of the answers are true and I should just guess.

When I see the phrase "based on" or "according to" the question is giving me which part of the INFERENCE equation?

(Inference=Schema+Text Evidence)

• Inference

• Schema

• Background Knowledge

• Text Evidence

When I see the words "suggests" or "supports" the question is giving me which part of the INFERENCE equation?

(Inference=Schema+Text Evidence)

• Inference

• Schema

• Text Evidence

• This is an ELA test, not a math test!