Testing & Assessments

General Test Taking Strategies

1) Be prepared. Start studying early. Cramming can increase test anxiety. The night before a test, review the material and get a good night's sleep. Eat something before the test and use the restroom before you take the test. Go to class with everything you will need for the test (pencil, eraser, calculator, etc). Once you receive your test, you can write any important facts or formulas at the top of your test. Put your name on your test and be sure to read the directions carefully. For open book tests you can highlight your notes or put sticky notes in your textbook to help you locate specific information quickly.

2) Use your time wisely. Before you begin writing down your answers, you may want to look through the test and budget your time to ensure you can answer all of the questions on the test.

3) If there are answers you are not sure of, put a tiny dot or check mark next to them, complete the rest of the questions and then return to the answers you had marked.

4) Check your answers. Go over your answers, even the ones you know are correct to check you have not made a mistake.

5) Review returned tests. Go over the questions you missed on an exam because you may see those questions again.