Test-Taking Strategies
Learning Objectives
By the end of this chapter, you will be able to:
- Review test-taking strategies for before, during, and after an exam.
- Identify strategies specific to different types of test items.
- Apply test-taking tips and strategies to a scenario.
Approaching a test in a careful and methodical way can help ensure the best results. You can best utilize your exam time by taking the time to survey the exam directions and point values and planning how to approach sections of the test. Strategy is particularly important for tests with mixed types of questions (i.e., multiple choice and essay) or tests with multiple essay questions. For example, if you were to spend too much time on the multiple choice questions and not allocate enough time to complete an essay question, you may have answered the majority of the total number of questions but still do poorly on the exam if the essay question was worth a larger portion of the exam’s total points. Plan your time carefully and manage your stress.
Additionally, a lot of students are unaware of the many strategies available to help with the test-taking experience before, during, and after.
Effective Techniques for Test Preparation and Test-Taking
Before the Test:
- Go to all of your classes and read all of your assigned reading using techniques described in Successful Reading.
- Take notes in class and while reading using techniques described in Effective Note Taking.
- Develop a study plan and schedule the time to review for an exam over several days. Refer to “Create a Five-Day Study Plan for Exams” in Preparing for an Exam.
- Schedule study sessions with classmates well in advance of the night before the exam.
- If you know how many questions, what the format is, and/or how much time you will have, you can start to mentally prepare for the exam, much more so than if you are coming in with no information. There are two more important aspects that you may or may not know:
- what will be covered or asked on the exam, and
- how the exam will be scored.
- Be sure you have materials you need for the exam ready at least the night before the exam, such as multiple writing utensils, notebook paper, etc.
- Get a good night’s rest the night before the exam.
- To ensure that you are on time for your exam, set two alarm clocks or arrange to have a friend call you to make sure you are awake.
- Eat a good breakfast and avoid caffeine prior to the exam.
- Prioritize self-care and test-anxiety strategies reviewed in previous chapters.
During the Test:
- Take a moment to take some deep cleansing breaths (or any other quick relaxation techniques) if you feel stressed by a question or the exam as a whole.
- Keep your eye on the clock. Sit where you are most comfortable and have fewer distractions.
- Wear earplugs if noise distracts you. If permitted, get up and stretch (or stretch in your chair) from time to time to relieve tension and assist the blood to the brain!
- Always read the directions first. Mark your exam with the necessary identification. Read them thoroughly. Scan the exam for question types, point values, etc.
- Develop a plan for how you will use your time to complete all questions on the exam.
- Read each item carefully and fully before marking an answer. You might find clues to the answer and will be less likely to make a preventable mistake.
- Skip difficult questions and come back to them if you are pressed for time.
- If time is available at the end of the exam, review questions you marked as “difficult” in order to check for errors. Try not to leave any answers blank. You might be awarded partial credit or even make a correct guess.
- If you have an essay question to write, take the time to briefly outline an answer to ensure that you are answering all aspects of the question and that you provide a well-organized answer for your faculty member to read.
After the Test:
- Conduct an error analysis for items missed on the test. Look up the correct answers. Determine the nature of the errors you made.
- Talk with your professor about items you missed on the exam. Discuss adjustments in your test preparation methods if necessary. This is especially useful for quizzes that contain information that may be incorporated into more inclusive exams such as mid-terms and finals.
- Analyze the test questions to see if patterns arise, such as:
- “Were most of the questions from the lecture, the book, or both?”;
- “What types of questions were asked?”;
- “What levels of thinking were being tested based on Bloom’s Taxonomy?”; etc.
- Review the methods that you used to study for the exam and determine what adjustments you need to make in preparing for the next exam.
- Determine your overall grade in the course based on the new information that this grade has provided you. Talk with your professor and academic advisor if you have concerns about your overall grade.
- If allowed, archive your exam for future reference. Students should review the answers that were correct because they may see those questions on future exams, and it is important to reinforce learning. Students should also review the answers that were incorrect in order to learn what the correct answer was and why.
Tips for Better Test Taking: Types of Test Items
The types of test items on a test are as different as the professors who created the tests. “Objective” test questions refer to items in which students have to recognize the correct answer from a list of provided options (e.g., multiple choice, true-false, matching). In most cases there is one best answer, though it is important to note that a professor could indicate in the directions that you can select more than one answer. “Subjective” test items are the fill-in-the-blank, short answer, or essay questions in which students must recall and produce the answer.
Multiple-Choice Questions
You will quickly learn that in nursing school, multiple-choice questions are far different from the multiple-choice questions you are used to. Often times you will see more than one answer that is correct, or appears to be correct. It is your job to decipher which answer is the “most correct”. You will learn that while all four answers may be correct, there is only one answer that will be the most pertinent or the top priority, making it the “most correct” or “best choice”. These questions emphasize critical thinking. Here is a good approach to multiple-choice questions that require critical thinking:
- Read the question and all of the answer options first.
- Think of these questions as four true or false statements in one. One of the statements is true (the correct answer, and the others will be false. Mark out any answers that you know are not correct.
- Once you have selected an answer, do not change it unless you misread the question and know the new answer is correct. Usually, your first answer is the correct one if you are making an educated guess.
- Often, the correct answer has more information in it.
- If there is no penalty for guessing, do not leave any items blank—make an educated guess.
- If there is an “All of the Above” option and there are two or more options that are correct, select “All of the Above.”
- In a question with “All of the Above” and “None of the Above,” if you are certain that one of the answers is true, do not select “None of the Above”. Likewise, if one of the answers is false, then do not select “All of the Above.”
- Make sure to match the grammar of the question and answer. For example, if the question indicates a plural answer, look for the plural answer.
True-False Questions
- Read the statement carefully, but do not read too much into the statement. Base your answer on the information provided.
- Make sure to read the entire statement. With statements that have multiple facts, all parts of a sentence must be true if the whole statement is to be true. If one part of it is false, the whole sentence is false. Long sentences are often false for this reason.
- Qualifying words like all, always, never, no, none, only, and every indicate that this answer would have to be true all of the time. If it is not true all of the time, then you should answer false.
- Qualifying words like usually, sometimes, many, most, some, often, and generally indicate that this answer could be true or false depending on the situation. Oftentimes the answer is true.
Matching Questions
- First, read the instructions and take a look at both lists to determine what the items are and their relationship. It is especially important to determine if both lists have the same number of items and if all items are to be used and used only once.
- Count both sides to be matched. Matching questions become much more difficult if one list has more items than the other, or if items either might not be used or could be used more than once. If your exam instructions do not address this, ask your instructor for further clarification if that is an option.
- Take a look at the whole list before selecting an answer, because a more correct answer may be found further into the list.
- Mark items when you are sure you have a match (pending the number of items in the list, this may eliminate answers for the future). Guessing (if needed) should take place once you have selected answers you are certain about.
Select All That Apply
Select all that apply (SATA) questions are multiple choice, multiple-response questions that have more than one correct answer that must be selected. You will be required to select ALL of the correct answers that pertain to the question for it to be considered correct; no partial credit is given. SATA questions are one of the types of alternative format questions you will see on your NCLEX exam. To prepare you for your NXLEX, you will see SATA questions on most, if not all, of your nursing school exams.
The best way to answer SATA questions is to turn each answer into a true/false question following this 6-step process.
- Cover up all the answers.
- Read the question and make sure to understand what it is asking.
- Uncover the first answer.
- Re-read the question and first answer. Phrase the answer as a true or false statement. Ask yourself if this statement fulfills the need of the question being asked. Evaluate each answer as an independent statement. Do not group or associate answers together.
- Repeat these steps for each available answer choice until you have gone through all of the answer choices.
- Once you have the answer and are confident in it, answer and move on.
Remember there will be a minimum of 2 correct answers. Rarely will all of the choices be correct.
Activity: Select All That Apply
Using the tips above, try answering the following SATA question. When you finish, re-read the questions, answers, and rationale.
Question:
You’re taking care of a 75-year-old female who is confused and keeps saying, “I need to get home because my husband needs to have dinner prepared for him. He will be scared if I’m not home! I have to get home.” She thinks the year is 1972 (getting angry when you reorient her), and she is convinced that the housekeeper is stealing her cookies. After walking in on her calling 911 to get a ride home, which of the following interventions should be implemented to help keep this client safe? Select all that apply:
- Placing her in a room by the nurses’ station
- Grabbing the extra cookies in the pantry and giving them to her
- Reorienting her to the day and year
- Getting a sitter for her to talk to and help distract her from trying to leave
- Putting non-slip socks on her
Got your answer?
Now let’s approach this a little differently.
Try to answer this question by turning this question into a series of true or false questions about the criteria “to help keep the client safe” in the question:
- Does “placing her in a room by the nurses’ station” help keep this client safe? True or False?
TRUE: It keeps the client from potential danger by allowing nurses to keep a closer eye on her. - Does “Grabbing the extra cookies in the pantry and giving them to her” help keep this client safe? True or False?
FALSE: Getting her cookies sounds like it would work to calm her down, but it does not affect the patient’s safety. - Does “Reorienting her to the day and year” help keep this client safe? True or False?
FALSE: Under normal circumstances, this is a good thing. But in this case, it not only upsets the patient, it also doesn’t address the issue of safety. - Does “Getting a sitter for her to talk to and help distract her from trying to leave” help keep this client safe? True or False?
TRUE: This will certainly help keep the patient safe. You may wonder, “But do we need to have a sitter if we move her? Or should we not move her if we have a sitter?” PLEASE TAKE NOTE: This is its own question. The prior question (item A) of moving the patient does not change the answer to this question (item D) even though it is all in one select all that apply question. Make sure you consider each choice separately. - Does “Putting non-slip socks on her” help keep this client safe? True or False?
TRUE: Non-slip socks are always a good idea because they help keep the patient from falling; thus they help keep the patient safe.
See how we took one question and turned it into 5 smaller ones? If you take a few minutes to break it up and ask yourself directly, “Is this statement true or false?” it helps you focus solely on each option rather than getting confused and distracted by the other options. This method will force you to focus on answering the specific question being asked.
You now know that 3 answers are potentially true. You’ll select items A, D, and E.
If you work through all your select all that apply questions like this, you can break them down and answer successfully.
Unfolding Case Studies
The new Next Generation NCLEX® exam contains 3 unfolding case studies (sometimes called evolving scenarios), which have 6 questions each, for a total of 18 questions. All case studies begin with a scenario and “Recognize Cues” questions. That scenario will continue with new information added, and it will flow through “Analyze Cues” questions to the final questions about “Evaluating Outcomes.” The purpose of these case studies is for students to use their critical thinking skills to assess and analyze clinical data and derive correct clinical judgments in their nursing practice. While the example below is not a question from the Next Generation NCLEX® exam, it provides an example of what it is like to encounter this type of test question.
Activity: Example Unfolding Case Study
Read more about the Next Generation NCLEX® and Unfolding Case Studies in the Winter 2022 Next Generation NCLEX News (PDF), published by the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN).
Activity: Test-Taking Tips
Your friend RJ believes they are good at organization, and they usually are—for about the first two weeks of classes. Then they get overwhelmed with all of the handouts and materials, and they start slipping in the organization department. When it comes to tests, RJ worries that their notes might not cover all of the right topics and that they will not be able to remember all of the key terms and points—especially for their math class. During tests, RJ sometimes gets stuck on an item and spends too much time on it. RJ also sometimes changes answers but finds out later that their original selection was correct. RJ is also easily distracted by other students and noises, which makes it hard for them to concentrate sometimes. RJ also admits to occasionally “cramming” the night before a test.
Write an email with advice to this friend, offering test-taking tips and strategies you think will help them.
Key Takeaways
- There is no such thing as an unimportant quiz.
- In addition to studying, prepare for exams and quizzes by getting plenty of rest, eating well, and getting some exercise the day before the exam.
- Cramming is not a good test-taking strategy.
- Before the exam, learn as much as you can about the kinds of questions your instructor will be asking and the specific material that will be covered.
- The first step to successful completion of any exam is to browse the entire exam and develop a plan (including a “time budget”) for completing the exam.
- Read questions carefully. Underline keywords in questions, particularly science questions.
- Unless points are deducted for a wrong answer, it pays to take educated guesses.
- Carefully evaluate every answer choice in a Select All That Apply question as an independent statement before selecting your answers.
Chapter Attributions
This chapter was adapted by Michelle Holbrook and Cheryl Colan from “4.2 Test-Taking Strategies” by Leslie Jennings, licensed under a CC BY 4.0 license; and from “The Ultimate Guide to Select All That Apply Questions (how to answer NCLEX questions)” by UNMC College of Nursing, licensed under a CC BY-NC-SA license.