The Eight Steps for Taking Objective Tests

Step 1: A good while before the test, gather all the material for which you will be

responsible. Flashcard “The Big Six.” Trickle the material into your mind, lots of small bites, lots of short sessions with time in between.

Review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, review, quiz yourself, practice, overlearn, and then do it some more!

Step 2: Be on time or early. Bring all allowed materials. Don’t borrow and don’t share.

Step 3: Ignore what other students are doing and listen carefully to directions, read directions carefully and/ or take a “test tour” with your instructor. Quickly scan the test to see what lies ahead of you.

Step 4: Spill out all memory-training devices somewhere on the test, and expand them to keywords.

Step 5: Go through the entire test and answer all the easy questions first. Immediately skip a question if the answer is not apparent.

Step 6: Estimate the questions remaining and time remaining. Decide how much time you can give to each remaining question and honor that decision.

Step 7: Go through the entire test again and answer the rest of the questions. Many will have become clearer through your experience on the test. Keep track of the time remaining, so you can be fair to each question. Once a question’s time is up, guess an answer and move on. See the handout, Hints for Answering Objective Test Questions for additional help.

Step 8: If time remains, check and correct obvious errors, but change an answer ONLY

if you are quite certain your first answer is wrong.