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Political Science

This research guide has sources suggested for political science.

Test Taking Skills

As a college student, you will be faced with taking tests of all types. Tests can be stressful before, during, and after. Below are some tips and strategies found in the book "Student Success" by Mary Shier.  This open educational resource book can be found on B.C. Open Collection. (See excerpts below under each tab.)

Suggestions for Test Taking

Some stress before a test or exam is common and beneficial. Test anxiety is stress that gets in the way of performing effectively. The most common causes of test anxiety are lack of preparation and negative attitudes. The key to combating test anxiety is to try to reduce stressors to a manageable level rather than try to eliminate them totally.

(Book chapter - Test Anxiety and How to Manage It)

 

There are steps you should take if you find that stress is getting in your way

Be prepared. If you use good study habits and review regularly, this stressor should be greatly reduced if not eliminated. Make sure to find out how the exam is structured and what material to study. Double check the exam time and location.

Address negative thoughts. When you feel you are brewing a storm of negative thoughts, stop what you are doing and clear your mind. Go for a walk. Confide in a friend. Meditate. Do some deep breathing.  Don’t go back to work until you feel the tension release.

Visualize success. Picture what it will feel like to get the grade you want. Translate that vision into specific, reasonable goals and work toward each individual goal. Visualize success of each goal. Take one step at a time and reward yourself for each goal you complete.

It's all about you! Don’t waste your time comparing yourself to other students in the class, especially during the exam. Keep focused on your own work and your own plan. Exams are not a race, so it doesn’t matter who turns in their paper first.

Have a plan and follow it. As soon as you know that an exam is coming, you can develop a plan for studying. As soon as you get your exam paper, you should develop a plan for the exam itself. Don’t wait to cram for an exam at the last minute; the pressure you put on yourself and the late night will cause more anxiety, and you won’t learn or retain much.

Make sure you eat well and get a good night's sleep before the exam. Hunger, poor eating habits, energy drinks, and lack of sleep all contribute to test anxiety. Going to bed early with the assurance that you worked hard to prepare for the test goes a long way to experiencing peace going into an exam.

Arrive early. Trying to cram or leaving things to the last minute can cause a huge amount of stress if you end up frantically racing to the exam. It increases anxiety when you are worried about being late. It’s even worse if you actually are late. You’ll have the added stress of entering the exam room late and you’ll lose valuable time that could have been spent doing the test. This kind of anxiety can last all the way through the test. 

Chill! You perform best when you are relaxed, so learn some relaxation exercises you can use during an exam. 

Get help. If exam anxiety is persistent and debilitating, and if it is getting worse despite your best effort to address it, ask your instructor where you can receive help on campus.

Being successful at tests comes down to discipline, preparation and execution. Stay caught up throughout the term and review often. Make a study schedule before the test and stick to it. Prepare for exams and quizzes by getting plenty of rest, eating well, and getting some exercise the day before the exam. Cramming is seldom a good 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.

(Book chapter - Test Preparation Techniques)

 

Preparation for Exam Strategies

Find out as much about the exam in advance as you can. Some professors and instructors will tell you how many questions there will be, what format the exam will be in, how much time you will have, etc., and others will not. Students should ask questions about the exam if there is not information given.

Anticipate questions. What kind of questions would you include if you were the instructor? What areas did the instructor personally show the most interest in? Brainstorm possible questions with your study group. Look for possible questions in your notes. Review past quizzes and test to see what kinds of questions the instructor likes to ask.

Take care of your body. Before the exam, it is important to prepare your brain and body for optimal performance for your exam. Do not cram the night before. 

 

Types of Tests

All tests are designed to determine how much you know about a particular subject at a particular point in time. But you should be aware of differences in types of tests because this will help guide how you prepare for them. Tests can be grouped into various categories based on how they are delivered. Each type has its own unique strategies.

  • Paper tests are still a very common type of test, requiring students to write answers on the test pages or in a separate test booklet. They are typically used for in-class tests. Neatness and good grammar count, even if it’s not an English exam. Remember that the instructor will be reading dozens of test papers and will not likely spend much time trying to figure out your hieroglyphics, arrows, and cross-outs.
  • Open-book tests allow the student to consult their notes, textbook, or both while taking the exam. Students often mistakenly think that they don’t have to study much because all the information will be in front of them. The contrary is true. Instructors often give this type of test when they are more interested in seeing your thoughts and critical thinking than your memory power. Be prepared to expose and defend your own viewpoints. You’ll need to understand the themes and main ideas about the text. When preparing, know where key material is located in your book and notes; create an index for your notes and use sticky notes to flag key pages of your textbook before the exam. Another strategy is to highlight key sections in your index so you can easily find them. People who don’t know their text book well, will spend fruitless precious time searching through the book for that thing they are trying to find.
  • Multiple-choice tests affect the way you should prepare. You will not have to memorize the names of terms and their spelling, but you will have to recognize them and know what they mean. This impacts studying techniques.
  • Take-home tests are like open-book tests except you have the luxury of time on your side. Make sure you submit the exam on time. Know what the instructor’s expectations are about the content of your answers. The instructor will likely expect more detail and more complete work because you are not under a strict time limit and because you have access to reference materials. Be clear about when the test is due. (Some instructors will ask you to email your exam to them by a specific time.) Also find out if the instructor allows or expects you to collaborate with classmates. Be sure to type your exam and don’t forget to spell-check!
  • Online tests Find out if you will be allowed to move freely between test sections to go back and check your work or to complete questions you might have skipped. Some testing software does not allow you to return to sections once they are “submitted.” Unless your exam needs to be taken at a specific time, don’t wait until the last minute to take the test. Should you have technical problems, you want to have time to resolve the issues. To avoid any conflicts with the testing software, close all other software applications before beginning the test. Watch the time carefully. They will often have a clock counting down for you. Many online tests will submit the test at exactly the time the test is over, so make sure you’ve finished prior to the clock running out.
  • Electronic tests in the classroom are becoming more common as universities install “smart classrooms” with technology such as wireless “clicker” technology that instructors may use to get a quick read of students’ understanding of a lecture. This testing method allows for only true-or-false and multiple-choice questions, so it is rarely used for summative assessments. When taking this kind of quick quiz, take notes on questions you miss so that you can focus on them when you do your own review.
  • Presentations and oral tests are the most complete means for instructors to evaluate students’ mastery of material, because the evaluation is highly interactive. The instructor can (and likely will) probe you on certain points, question your assumptions, or ask you to defend your point of view. Make sure you practice your presentation many times with and without an audience (your study group is good for this). Have a clear and concise point of view and keep to the allotted time. (You don’t want to miss delivering a killer close if your instructor cuts you off because you weren’t aware of the time!)
 

There are specific strategies you can use in the midst of the test that will help you do the best you can do.

(Book chapter - Techniques During a Test)

 

Here is a list of the most common–and useful–strategies for test-taking.

Choose your seat wisely. Sit where you are most comfortable. Scan the room and look for considerations that might affect you (e.g. sitting away from windows or doors that may be drafty or distracting).

Cut down on distractions. Wear ear plugs, if noise distracts you. Put your phone on do not disturb before you arrive.

Bring water. This helps calm the nerves, for one thing, and water is also needed for optimum brain function. (ASK YOUR INSTRUCTOR BEFORE IF YOU CAN BRING A DRINK)

Listen carefully to instructions given by the instructor or test invigilator.

Write it down. Take a couple minutes to write down key facts, dates, principles, statistics, concepts, memory cues and formulas that you memorized to help you on the test. Write them on a piece of scratch paper or in the margin of the exam paper. Do this right at the start. Then you can refer to these notes as you take the exam. (This is after the test starts.)

Scan the test. Before starting to do any of the questions, scan the test so you know how many test items there are, what types there are (multiple choice, matching, essay, etc.), and the point values of each item or group of items. There is nothing worse than getting a big surprise when you have no time left to do anything about it. You don’t want to think you’ve almost finished the test, and then with five minutes left, you discover the last question is a forty mark essay.

Mark the questions as you scan the test. Star or highlight the questions that you know really well. Put question marks beside the ones that you might have more trouble with. Always focus your attention on the questions you know well first. It ensures that you get the questions done that you have the most chance of getting high marks on, and it builds your confidence from the start. Spending time on a question that you are struggling with is wasting your time which could be spent answering the questions you know the answers to. Skip the ones you don’t know and come back to them later if you have time. You might even get some clues to the answers from some of the other questions covering similar information. On computerized tests or answer sheets where you can’t or shouldn’t make marks – write down the numbers of the questions you skipped or weren’t sure of on scrap paper so you can find them easily later.

Create a Plan. Evaluate the importance of each section as you scan the test. Determine which way you want to approach the test. Some students start with the easy questions first, that is, the ones they immediately know the answers to, saving the difficult ones for later, knowing they can spend the remaining time on them. Some students begin with the biggest-point items first, to make sure they get the most points. Determine a schedule that takes into consideration how long you have for the test and the types of questions on the test. Essay questions, for example, will require more time than multiple choice or matching questions. Keep your eye on the clock.

Read the directions carefully. Then reread them. Do you understand what is expected of you? If not, re-read the questions, or ask the instructor to be sure you are clear.  Common errors from not reading directions carefully include either missing one part of the question (e.g. answered the first part but forgot about the second part) or not noticing that you only needed to answer 3 out of 5 of the short-answer questions (hence wasting time that could have been spent somewhere else on the test). Too many students lose points simply by not following directions completely!

Read the questions carefully. Underline key words in each question. Think about where you have heard these key words before. Think about other questions on the test for clues. When you have finished writing your answer, go back and read the question again to make sure you actually answered it. (It is not uncommon for students to go off on a tangent and then not actually answer the question.)

Do the easy questions first. By getting the easy questions out of the way, you’ll feel more confident about the test and have more time to think about the tougher questions. Start with the objective sections of the exam first (multiple choice, true or false, and matching columns). As you answer these questions, keep an eye out for facts, terms, or concepts you may want to use later in an essay question. You’ll know because you read the essay question already and did your outline. Circle key concepts and jot them into your essay outline as you answer questions throughout the test.

Keep an eye on the time. Keep as close to your plan as possible. If you see that you are running out of time, don’t panic. Move to those questions you think you can still answer accurately within the remaining time.

Move. Try to stretch in your chair from time to time to relieve tension and assist the blood to the brain! Roll your shoulders, circle your feet and hands, clench your butt, circle your neck.

Reduce anxiety. (see "Test Anxiety" tab for strategies)

Check your work. This doesn’t mean going through all your calculations again. Start by ensuring that you have complete answers according to the directions. Then look for other common mistakes, such as a misplaced decimal point, dropped words (especially those that can modify the answer, like “not”), and any incomplete or incomprehensible phrases.

Some of your most important learning begins when your graded test paper is returned to you. Make sure you listen to the instructor as the papers are returned. What is the instructor saying about the test? Is there a particular point everyone had trouble with? Does the instructor generally think everyone did well? The instructor’s comments at this point may give you important information about what you should study more, about the value of review sessions, and even about possible questions for the next exam. Although you may be tempted to throw away the exam, don’t. It is a very helpful tool for the next phase of preparing for learning. This is a three-step process, beginning with evaluating your results.

Working with exams does not end when your instructor hands back your graded test. Quizzes and midterms are reliable predictors of the kind of material that will be on the final exam. When evaluating your test performance, don’t look only at the content you missed. Identify the types of mistakes you commonly make and formulate plans to prevent these mistakes in future assessments.

 

(Book chapter - After the Test)

 

Evaluating Your Test Results

- Exam Errors (see charts of how to find "exam errors and how to correct them")

- Correcting your mistakes. 

  • For multiple-choice questions, write out the question stem with the correct answer to form a single correct sentence or phrase.
  • For true-or-false questions, write the full statement if it is true; if it is false, reword it in such a way that it is true (such as by inserting the word “not”). Then write the new statement.
  • For math and science questions involving calculations, redo the entire solution with the calculations written out fully.
  • You need not rewrite an entire essay question if you did not do well, but you should create a new outline for what would be a correct answer. Make sure you incorporate any ideas triggered by your instructor’s comments.
  • When you have rewritten all your answers, read them all out loud before incorporating your new answers in your notes.

- Integrating your test into your study guide. 

Review your exams throughout the term (not just before the final) to be sure you cement the course material into your memory. When you prepare for the final exam, start by reviewing your quizzes and other tests to predict the kinds of questions the instructor may ask on the final. This will help focus your final studying when you have a large amount of coursework to cover.

- If you don't get your test back. 

If your instructor chooses not to return tests to students, make an appointment to see the instructor soon after the test to review it and your performance. Take notes on what you had trouble with and the expected answers. Add these notes into your study guide. Make sure you don’t lose out on the opportunity to learn from your results.