Multiple Choice Tests

1. Read directions thoroughly.
2. If stuck on a question skip it, move on to the next question, and go back to it at the end of the exam. Later questions may bring to mind the answer to an earlier question.
3. If marking answers on an answer sheet make sure that the answer you are marking goes next to the correct number.
4. Answer the question in your mind first before looking at the answer options.
5. Read every word of the question and the choices carefully. Misreading a single word can cause you to choose the incorrect answer.
6. Use key words to help you determine your answer.
7. Consider all options even if you are struck by one option immediately. One option may be the best answer.
8. Use the process of elimination, rejecting the answers you know are incorrect. Any option you can eliminate increases your chances of choosing the correct option. The answer is the choice you cannot eliminate.
9. Watch out for questions that begin: Which one is not an example.
10. If stuck on a question, read the question with answer A, read the question with answer B, with answer C, with answer D.
11. Be careful of "all of the above." Make sure all options apply before making this choice.
12. Be careful of "none of the above." Make sure no other option is correct before making this choice.
13. Remember that all choices are present.
14. Be aware of article agreement. If you had the following question on an exam and did not know the answer, based on article agreement, the answer would be "onion." The name of a vegetable that grows underground is an: cucumber, tomato, onion.
15. Be aware of singular and plural agreement agreement. If you had the following question on an exam and did not know the answer, based on plural agreement, the answer would be "deuce and love." Which of the following words are used in scoring tennis? goal, bogey, deuce and love.
16. If guessing at an answer involving numbers, choose a number in the middle. The high and low numbers tend to be distracters.
17. If guessing, pick a familiar option over an unfamiliar option. Be aware that an answer that contains an unfamiliar term is apt to be a distracter.