Brought to you by the Academic Success Center Academic Consulting Academic Intervention Psych 131 Supplemental Instruction Tutoring Services 1060 Hixson-Lied Student Success Center 294-6624 www.dso.iastate.edu/asc Test Taking: Objective Tests Academic Success Center Iowa State University Objective tests measure both your ability to remember facts and figures and your understanding of course materials. These tests are often designed to make you think independently, so don't count on recognizing the right answer. Instead, prepare yourself for high level critical reasoning and making fine discriminations to determine the best answer. The most common objective test questions are multiple-choice, true-false, and matching items. Doing well on these questions requires that you not only master the information but also interpret the testmaker's intentions. You know you have mastered the information if you can: 1. Recall specific terms, facts, names, and other key words; become proficient in the language of the course. 2. Distinguish the ways in which ideas, facts, theories, or other observations differ from each other and categorize ideas, facts, theories, or other observations according to the ways these are similar. 3. Answer the questions and solve the problems in the text and create your own questions or problems. Preparing for Objective Tests 1. Review notes and text(s) - list the major concepts that have been covered. 2. Highlight topics that were stressed. Note why they were stressed. 3. Think vocabulary. Every field of study has its own vocabulary, so identify words and terms used to represent specific concepts (i.e., the word "paradigm" in a social science course), and treat them as you would a foreign language. Make flash cards for frequent drills, and try to use these words whenever you work with course-related materials. 4. Compare and contrast. Sometimes objective questions can be used to test your ability to distinguish concepts, ideas, theories, events, facts from each other. Construct diagrams, charts, tables or lists to summarize relationships. 5. Recite for precision. Review your retention of the information by recalling it often. Use odd moments, in addition to 15-20 minute review sessions, to say or write out complete ideas and facts. It is very important to verbalize the recalled information completely and in a detailed manner so that you will have a precise idea of your mastery of the material. Taking Objective Tests General Tips: ♦ Plan your time. Allow more time for high point value questions; reserve time at the end to review your work, and for emergencies. ♦ Check with your instructor whether or not you can write on the test. ♦ Before starting the test, turn it over and jot down all the facts and details you are trying to keep current in memory. Look the whole test over, skimming the questions and developing a general plan for your work. If any immediate thoughts come to you, jot them down in the margin. ♦ Read the directions very carefully. Look for time limits, specific answering procedures (i.e., answer 3 out of the 4 questions below), how questions will be graded. ♦ Start with the section of the test that will yield the most points, but begin working with the easiest questions to gain time for the more difficult ones and to warm up.♦ Work quickly, check your timing regularly and adjust your speed when necessary. Do not get stuck on one question at the cost of losing time for another one. ♦ Avoid reading into the questions. When you find yourself thinking along the lines of "this is too easy; there must be a trick..." mark the question and move on to another. When you begin modifying the question, the answer you will come up with will be different from the one on the teacher's key. Interpret questions literally. ♦ Choose the answer the testmaker intended—stay within the scope of the course. If you know facts that are beyond the level of sophistication of the test, 1) record the intended answer, and 2) point out the possible ambiguity and make a case for a different answer either in the margin of the test or during the next regular class. ♦ Mark key words in every question. To help find the key words, ask yourself WHAT, WHO, WHERE, WHEN, and HOW? Multiple Choice Questions: Probably the most commonly used objective question, the multiple choice question, consists of two parts: 1) The stem - the statement or question 2) The choices - also known as the distracters Tips: ♦ There are usually 3 to 5 options that will complete the stem statement or question. You are to select the correct choice, the option that completes the thought expressed in the stem. There is a 20% chance that you will guess the correct choice if there are 5 choices listed. Although multiple choice questions are most often used to test your memory of details, facts, and relationships, they are also used to test your comprehension and your ability to solve problems. Reasoning ability is a very important skill for doing well on multiple choice tests. ♦ Read the stem as if it were an independent, free-standing statement. Anticipate the phrase that would complete the thought expressed, then compare each answer choice to your anticipated answer. It is important to read each choice, even if the first choice matches the answer you expected, because there may be a better answer listed. ♦ Another evaluation technique is to read the stem together with each answer choice as if it were a true-false statement. If the answer makes the statement a false one, cross it out. Check all the choices that complete the stem as a true statement. Try to suspend judgment about the choices you think are true until you have read all the choices. ♦ Beware of words like not, but, except. Mark these words because they specify the direction and limits of the answer. ♦ Also watch out for words like always, never, and only. These must be interpreted as meaning all of the time, not just 99% of the time. These choices are frequently incorrect because there are few statements that have no exceptions (but there are a few). ♦ If there are two or more options that could be the correct answer, compare them to each other to determine the differences between them, and then relate these differences with the stem to deduce which of the choices is the better one. (Hint: select the option that gives the most complete information.)
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