Multiple Choice Test Tips

Following are some simple tips that can help to increase your chances of success on multiple choice tests.

PREPARING for the Test

• Begin studying early: study, review, reread, review and study again.
• Cramming for a multiple choice test is not a good way to remember detailed information.
• Study notes from class.
• Read, reread and review information from your text.
• Read captions, review charts and pictures.
• Pay attention to details.
• Notice events, key facts and dates.
• Review new vocabulary, definitions and concepts.
• Study a little every day.
• Set up a study group of other students in your course.
• Try making up your own multiple choice quiz questions.
• Take turns asking and answering questions.

Ask yourself these questions:
Do I understand all that was covered in class?
Can I explain new vocabulary and concepts in your own words?
Can I answer the review questions at the end of the chapter?
How much time will you have to take the text?

Taking the Test

• Quickly preview the entire test before you begin answering questions.
• Cover up the answers with your hand or a piece of paper.
• Read the question before you look at the answer.
• Read all the choices before choosing your answer.
• Try to come up with the correct answer before you look.
• If it helps, use a pencil to make a small x (lightly) next to answers you know aren't right.
• Quickly answer the easy questions first.
• Skip over questions that you cannot answer within a minute or less.
• Go back to skipped questions after finishing the test.
• Review both the questions and answers, if time.
• Knowing how much time you have to take the test can help you to budget your time and to plan additional strategies based on analyzing test questions.

MORE TIPS and TRICKS

• Stick with your first answer most of the time.
• Absolutes – Key words like NEVER, ALWAYS and EVERY usually lead to an incorrect answer.
• General terms such as “usually, sometimes, and generally” usually lead to a true answer.
• All of the above: If you see at least two correct answers then “all of the above” is probably the answer.
• None of the above is usually wrong.
• The entire answer is false if part of it is not true.
• Positive choices are more likely to be true than negative choices.
• Longer, detailed answers are often correct choices.
• Answers B or C are correct more often.
• A is usually not a correct answer.
• Funny answers are usually not correct.
• Spending time trying to figure out a pattern of answers is usually a waste of time.
• Guessing: You have over 50% chance of guessing correct if you analyze test questions.

If your child is in need of SAT help or needs to improve multiple choice test taking skills, find the best solution for your family.