Tips & tricks
Today we'll introduce you to some helpful tips (based in science), as well as some general strategies to help you bubble your way to success!
Description of the video:
00:00
Student: "I hate multiple choice questions."
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Student: "They seem so confusing!"
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Student: "Is this a trick question?"
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Student: "Do I go with my gut, or do I change?"
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Student: "I always second guess myself!"
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Student: "Did I pick too many of the same letter in a row?"
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Student: "I'm rushed for time..."
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Student: "I'm down to 2 choices."
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Student: "Do I just guess?"
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Narrator: Multiple choice is great because the correct answer is right there in front
00:20
of you.
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But how do you find it?
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And how can you maximize your score?
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Using a few simple strategies, you can use psychology to help you pass Psychology (and
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other courses with multiple choice tests).
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First, a "bird's-eye-view" and some general strategy.
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Then, tips from students, based on science, that will help you bubble your way to success.
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Last, some myth-busting - if you have to guess, what works (and what doesn't)?
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For multiple choice questions you have to recognize the best answer.
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And "best" might mean the most accurate, complete, or inclusive.
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So start by eliminating the losers.
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Read the "stem" (the question itself).
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Underline or circle clues.
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You might try reading each question twice.
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On the first read, identify the topic.
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On the next, identify what the question is specifically asking about that topic.
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Focus on what's actually present in the question and answer options themselves.
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Don't overthink things - don't add words, don't add your own thoughts, or go wild with
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inferences or implications.
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Do not compare answers to each other.
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Judge each choice on its own merit by marking each option with an "X" (if it's wrong), a
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"check" (if it's right), or a "?" (if you don't know).
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This narrows down your options and keeps you working without looking back.
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So cross out those wrong choices right away.
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Don't worry about time for the first half of the testing period.
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Don't spend time dithering back and forth.
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Just keep moving forward.
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You are saving half your time to come back to ones you're not sure about.
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Maybe some other questions in the exam will spark some insight or remind you of something.
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When the period is half over, if you do not have half the questions done, now you want
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to start budgeting time.
02:01
Those are some general tips.
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Here are some tips on test-taking, based on science.
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Now, it turns out that what a lot of students actually do works and is supported by science.
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A survey of students in a large lecture class of the most common major on the IU campus
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found that there are 2 ways students succeed with multiple choice questions.
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Student: "I look for key words and context clues."
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Narrator: Instructors have to give you identifying clues to let you know what material the question
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is referencing.
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So mark the words that remind you of particular lectures or readings.
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This might include concepts, technical terms, names/dates/events/historical periods, words
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from flashcards that you studied, what the teacher or book mentions or spends a lot of
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time on.
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Every term or example from class is a potential "retrieval clue" that can help you recall
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the correct answer.
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Having trouble picking key words or confused about what the question is asking?
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Try putting the question into your own words.
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Or think about it like this: Most multiple choice questions can be divided into two types:
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Definition Questions or Relationship Questions.
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Definitions test your understanding of the meaning or definition of a concept or term.
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Relationships test your understanding of the relationship between two or more concepts
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- like cause and effect, chronology, processes, compare and contrast, example or scenario,
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application; something like that.
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Read the question and mark the key words that will help you figure out which one it is.
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Check out the website to look at some examples.
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Assuming you recognize some of the key words in the question, what strategies can you use
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to hone in on the best choice?
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Student: "I choose the one that makes the most sense."
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Student: "I choose the one that sounds the most familiar for the subject."
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Narrator: These are cognitive or thought strategies.
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They use memory or learning processes to access or associate with things you learned.
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These are best if you studied.
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What about when you can eliminate a couple of bad answers, and are down to two?
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What about when you have no clue?
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Keep watching!
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When you are down to 2 possible answers, there are meta-cognitive strategies, or thinking
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about thinking strategies, that can help.
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Focus on each choice separately, again, looking for cues or clues - terms and examples you
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recognize.
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Look also for "alarm words."
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Alarm words include absolutes like "always" and "never" (which make a choice more limited
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and often incorrect) and qualifiers like "sometimes" or "often" (which makes a choice more inclusive
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and often correct).
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Alarm words also include negative words like "no," or "except," and even negative prefixes
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("dis-," "non-," "un-").
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Check out the big list of alarm words on our website.
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When they have no idea, or feel they are doing badly on the exam, students sometimes resort
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to "psyching out" the test itself.
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These are called "test-wise strategies" (like "when in doubt, 'C' your way out," pick the
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longest answer, and stuff like that).
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This is when you really have to guess.
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Do these work?
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Some do.
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And some might.
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Let's do some myth busting.
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"I shouldn't change my answer or second-guess myself."
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I'll just stick with my first instinct."
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Narrator: Myth! Many people believe this, but research shows that the majority of answer changes are from
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incorrect to correct.
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We only doubt this because we usually just notice the times we changed and regretted it.
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We tend to overlook the instances where re-thinking helped!
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So if you have a sense that you should change, go with it.
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Student: "When in doubt, 'C' your way out."
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Student: "'B' smart."
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Narrator: Myth!
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Strategies to guess a consistent letter choice have actually been found to negatively affect
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test performance.
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Don't worry about getting too many of the same answers in a row, and don't necessarily
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guess a middle letter choice.
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Student: "The longest answer is probably the right one."
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Narrator: Some research says about two times as long and some three.
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A few words likely doesn't mean much, though.
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Student: "If two choices are similar, or complete opposites, one of them might be the right answer."
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Narrator: Maybe, according to some studies.
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If you have to guess, go ahead and guess one of them, if you haven't any other basis
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for deciding...
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Student: "Choose the middle value."
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Narrator: Another maybe!
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Some studies suggest that if all answer options are numbers, avoid the most extreme values
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and choose the value that is (sequentially, if put in numerical order) in the middle.
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Now for the recap.
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Student: Don't worry about time until halfway through.
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Student: Read the question and mark it up, looking for reminders and key terms.
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Student: Take each answer and consider it separately.
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Student: Mark those up, too, with a "check," or an "X," or even a "?" if you don't know.
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Student: If you're really puzzled, before guessing, think about what type of question
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it is.
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Student: Is it a definition or a relationship question?
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Student: Studying early and often can help a lot.
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Distribute your study weeks and days before the exam, in smaller segments, to help the
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memory processes and your scores, too.
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Narrator: Being a good test-taker comes naturally to some, but you can learn to approach a multiple
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choice test with confidence.
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Having some strategies can help you get control A. some of the time, B. most of the time C.
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all of the time, or D. all of the above???
Put it into practice!
- What parts of a multiple choice “stem” (the question itself) are helpful to mark and why?
- What advice does this episode give about how to mark answer choices to help you find the best one?
- What is the difference between a definition and a relationship question? Create an example of each.
- What common “test-wise” strategies have been proven to be effective, which are outright myths, and which, if you’re desperate, might sometimes be true?