How To Do Better In Tests and Exams Without ANY Extra Study or Studying!
It’s easy to score better in tests by just using some simple techniques. I am not suggesting you use these and waltz into the test with absolutely no other knowledge, but using common sense and keeping a cool head was definitely my favourite strategy when I went to school.
(for multiple choice questions) Use teacher psychology against them.Those sneaky teachers WANT you to get some answers wrong. Which is why they’ll inevitably try to confuse you by putting some very similar answers in, so that if you can’t quite recall the answer, you might get the wrong answer because you’ve chosen “alkene” instead of “alkane”. D’oh! But we can use this as a weapon to do better. Observe my example:
Which American outlaws and criminals who fell in love with each other were a part of The Barrow Gang?
A) Bonnie and Ronnie
B) Bonnie and Kevin
C)Louisa and Clyde
D) Bonnie and Clyde
E) Katie and Clyde
F) Louisa and Ronnie
You see what they did there? If you had remembered Bonnie’s name, but not Clyde’s, you could have chosen the wrong answer, because Bonnie was in more than one! Fortunately, this method works against them too. By figuring out which names are the most common, you can usually find the right answer. See how ‘Bonnie’ is in 3 of the answers, as is ‘Clyde’, while all the others are only used once or twice? Teachers often use this method to trick you, but by turning it against them, you can have the last laugh!
(for multiple choice questions) You can usually knock out half the answers straight off by using common sense
Go through the options one by one and get rid of ones that make no sense and could not possibly be the answer. For example:
Lisa throws a tennis ball 3 quarters further than Stevie threw his. If Stevie threw his tennis ball 2 metres, how far did Lisa throw hers?
A) 1.5m
B) 3.5m
C) -3.5m
D) 45m
E) 4
By going through systematically, you can eliminate A (because it’s less than Stevie’s distance), C (because Lisa didn’t throw the ball backwards) and D (because the number is unreasonable- Lisa threw it less than double the distance of Stevie’s 2 metre throw. In no alternate universe will that EVER equal 45 metres. Ever.)You are then left with just two options! How easy was that! And now you have a 50/50 chance of getting it right instead of a 20% chance of getting it right.
Search the test itself for the answers.You’d be surprised how often tests GIVE you the answers for questions in later questions. For instance, observe these two questions that were on a high school test of mine:
Question 3:
What is the correct order for these elements of the electromagnetic spectrum?
A) ultraviolet, radiowaves, infrared, microwaves
B) radiowaves, visible waves, xrays, gamma rays
C) gamma rays, xrays, microwaves, visible waves
Later on in the test…
The electromagnetic spectrum consists of radiowaves, microwaves, infrared, visible, ultraviolet rays, x-rays and gamma rays. Using this knowledge, which one has the highest frequency and why?
See? They GAVE you the answer! In 12 years of my own education, I have NEVER seen a test where they don’t give you at least one question like that. Seek, and you shall find!
Good luck on your exam!
