Test-Taking Tactics

Test-taking tactics refer to systematic strategies that students or any adult learner can use to methodically study and prepare for all types of tests. This Study Brief includes expert advice from classroom educators and educational assessment professionals aimed to increase your test-taking confidence and exam performance. Step-by-step walkthroughs of tactical approaches to different types of test questions provide strategies that can be applied in answering multiple choice, true-false, matching, short answer, essay, and computational questions on graded homework, quizzes, exams, midterms and finals. Guidelines for using the process of elimination and making educational guesses are explained with examples. Concept maps for diagraming responses to multi-part essay questions are provided as visual aids. Some key topics covered include predicting test questions, deconstructing a question through the use of key/cue words, qualifying vs. intensifying words, and tips for overcoming test anxiety.