Test Taking Strategies That Work: Before, During and After

The best test taking strategies come down to a few habits: prepare well, read the whole test before you start, answer the questions you know first, watch the clock and use leftover time to check your work. None of it is magic, and all of it can be practiced.

Being good at tests is partly knowing the material and partly knowing how tests work. Plenty of smart people lose points on questions they could have answered, because they misread, ran out of time or panicked. This guide covers what to do before, during and after a test, with specific tips for multiple choice and essay questions.

Strategy can’t replace studying. If you still need a plan for that, start with how to study for a test, then come back here.

Before the test: set yourself up

Most of your test-taking happens before you walk into the room.

• Know what’s on it. Ask your teacher what the test covers, what format it is (multiple choice, short answer, essay) and how long you’ll have. You can’t prepare for a format you don’t know about. If you need to ask, here’s how to email a teacher.
• Practice in the same format. If it’s an essay test, practice writing an outline. If it’s multiple choice, do practice questions and check why each wrong answer is wrong.
• Sleep. The CDC recommends 8 to 10 hours of sleep for teens ages 13 to 17. Cramming all night usually costs you more than it gives you. Need help winding down? See how to sleep better.
• Pack the night before. Pens, pencils, calculator, charged batteries, water bottle, whatever your teacher allows. One less thing to panic about.
• Eat something before the test, and arrive a few minutes early so you’re not rushing.
• Skip the last-minute group panic. If everyone outside the classroom is quizzing each other and it’s stressing you out, it’s okay to step away and look over your own notes, or just breathe.

When you get the test: the first two minutes

Don’t dive straight into question one. Take a minute to look at the whole test.

• Read the directions. Is it “choose the best answer” or “choose all that apply”? Can you write on the test? Is there a penalty for wrong answers?
• Skim every section. The UNC Writing Center’s advice for essay exams is to read the entire exam before you get started, and the same idea works for any test.
• Check the points. UNC also says to look at how many points each part earns you, because that shows where your time should go.
• Write your name on it. Yes, really. People forget.

Multiple choice test strategies

Memorial University’s learning centre has a handy guide to multiple choice exams. Its main advice, plus a few things that go with it:

1. Read all the choices before you pick one. The guide puts it in capital letters for a reason. The first answer that looks right isn’t always the best one.
2. Underline the important words in the question, and read it carefully. Words like “not” and “except” flip the whole question.
3. Try to answer in your head first. Then look for the choice that matches your answer, instead of letting the options talk you out of what you know.
4. Eliminate what you know is wrong. On a hard question, cross out the choices you’re sure about. The guide also says that if two choices mean the same thing, you can usually eliminate both.
5. Mark it and move on. If you’re still stuck, mark the question clearly in the margin and come back after the rest.
6. Be careful about changing answers. The same guide says not to hastily change your answer, since your first choice is probably right. If you realize you misread the question or remember something specific, change it. A vague bad feeling is not a reason.
7. Answer every question unless your teacher says wrong answers lose points. A blank is always zero.

Essay and written-answer strategies

Essay questions reward planning. The UNC Writing Center has a few rules that apply to any written test:

• Look at the verbs. UNC says the active verbs in the question tell you what you should be doing. “Compare,” “explain,” “evaluate” and “describe” are not the same task.
• Outline first. UNC suggests spending a reasonable amount of time planning, as much as a quarter of the time you’ve set aside for the question. A five-minute outline beats ten minutes of rambling.
• State your answer up front. Begin by stating your main point, or thesis, clearly and explicitly, then back it up with evidence from class.
• Be specific. Names, dates, examples and terms from the unit show you know the material.
• Run out of time? UNC says to jot down the remaining main ideas from your outline. Partial credit is real, so don’t leave it blank.

How to manage your time during a test

Running out of time is one of the most common ways to lose points, and it’s fixable.

• Make a quick plan. UNC’s tip: write down the actual clock time you expect to take in each section, and stick to it. For example, “Section 1 done by 9:20.”
• Do the easy ones first. It builds confidence, banks points and leaves your brain free to work on the hard ones in the background.
• Don’t get stuck. UNC says to watch the clock to be sure you don’t spend too much time on one answer. If a question is eating your time, mark it and move on.
• Save time to check. Even five minutes to reread your answers, check you didn’t skip a page and fix careless mistakes can save points.

What to do if you blank

It happens to everyone. Your mind goes white and a question you knew yesterday disappears. Try this:

1. Stop and breathe. Take a few slow breaths and let your shoulders drop. Panic doesn’t help you remember anything.
2. Skip it. Mark the question and move on. Answering other questions often jogs your memory.
3. Write down anything related. Formulas, terms, a half-remembered example. Getting something on paper often gets the rest moving.
4. Reread the question. Sometimes it asks something simpler than you thought.
5. Come back to it last, and if you still don’t know, make your best attempt.

If blanking happens to you a lot, or your stomach drops every time a test is handed out, check out our guide to test anxiety. Finals coming up? See how to study for finals.

After the test: learn from it

When you get your test back, don’t just look at the grade and shove it in your backpack. Kent State University’s teaching resources describe post-exam analysis as identifying challenges related to study skills, content errors, and/or test taking skills, then making plans to overcome them.

In plain English, go through your mistakes and sort them:

• Content errors: you didn’t know or didn’t remember it. Study that topic differently next time.
• Test-taking errors: you misread the question, ran out of time or changed a right answer to a wrong one. Use the tips above.
• Study-skill problems: you spent your time on the wrong material or started too late. Look at your study plan and start earlier next time.

If you don’t understand why you lost points, ask your teacher. It also shows you care about doing better. Want more? Here are our tips on how to get good grades.

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