6 Steps To Remember in Taking a Multiple-Choice Exam

Steps in Taking a Multiple-Choice Exam
First, pay attention to the instructions. Let us assumt: that you are asked to choose the best answer of four or five possibilities. This mears, of course, that perhaps two answers may be correct. Hence, do not waste time arguing with yourself that there may be more than one answer.
Second, the student taking a multiple-choice exam is in part Iike the accomplished poker player who is trying to get himself into a position where he is betting un a sure thing. In poker, one is in a stronger Position if he knows pretty well what is in the other fellow's hand. In the exam situation, Knowhg the material is a first step. There is no substitute for study. It is also unlikely that you will be certain about all the answers. Our suggestions also assume that. you are not penalized for guessing.
What are the next steps? Let us summarize from a study:

• Go through the exam a first time. and answer all the items of which you are fairly certain. This helps get certain items out of the way without wasting time on single, difficult items. There is sometimes another advantage in doing this. Having gone through the exam once will suggest the answers to questions that might have been difficult had they been answered in serial order. 
• Go through the exam a second time, answering any other ques­tions that now seem obvious. There are usuauy a number of questions which were left unanswered from .he first time through. It is in connection witb these ttat tht: test-wise student knows what to do. 
• Do not guess at this stage of the game. See what choices on any given question can be eliminated. In a four-choice question, pure guess will give the student one chance in four of being correct. If one alternative can be eliminated as incorrect, the odds lre reduced to one in three. If two can be eliminated, chances become fifty­fifty 
• Having eliminated some alternatives, choose the answer which you first thought of as right. Studies show that  this procedure is better than pure guesswork. 
• If you have no choice at all as to the right answer, take choice "2." Again, from studies come this suggested rule of thumb based on how teachers select items. When the instructor makes up a multiple-choice item, he usually has only a vague notion of what he wants to test. There is a tendency to make the first choice incorrect, the second choice the right answer, and the remaining ones anything that isn't too far afield. Of course, some instructors are conscious of this bit of behavior and correct for it. Remember, this suggestion is in the last-resort category! 
• When finished, check your answers. Clerical errors on exams are common for some people. Again, studies show that changing answers is in the direction of making them right. Yes, we are aware of the common misconception on this point. In a group of 100 papers (for example) it was discovered that two-thirds of the changes made in them resulted in the selection of a correct choice rather than a wrong one. 

Besides studying for the exam and studying the behavior of the instru-:tor, the above suggestioTls may help eliminate some of the anxiety one builds up about taking an exam.
Do we have any good suggestions for taking a true-false test?
None except that one should study and look for give-away words such as "always," "never," etc. Remember. there is no substitute for learning the material in the first place, and for the time spent in overlearning.