General Test Taking Strategies

GCI Test Preparation 2015

Maintain your Brain

• Eat a good breakfast.• Snacks at break are

allowed and many schools provide these to students.

• At break, hang out on your own. Don’t sit around and talk about how bad, tough, or frustrating the test is with your peers.

• Get at least 8-10 hours of sleep

Use Time Wisely

• If you finish a test early, go back and check your work.

• Keep a steady pace.

• Don’t sleep, stare out the window, or think about what you are doing after the test.

Answer easy questions FIRST

• Answer the questions that you KNOW you know first.

• Circle questions that you are unsure of or need more time to think about.

• Read questions first.

Avoid Carelessness

• Odd numbered questions are lettered A, B, C, D (math: A, B, C, D, E)

• Even numbered questions are F, G, H, J (math F, G, H, J, K)

Work is Work, Bubbling is Bubbling

• Don’t go back and forth between your answer sheet and the test booklet. You can loose focus.

• Do chunks of questions then bubble those answers on the answer sheet.

Never, Ever Leave a Bubble Empty

• Always eliminate as many answer choices as possible and then guess (educated guess)

• ALWAYS GUESS if you don’t know

Choosing NO CHANGE

• Surprisingly, this show up more often than students expect on the English Portion of the test

20-25%

Process of Elimination (POE)

• Applies to all multiple choice questions

• Eliminate wrong answers

• Cross wrong answers out on the test booklet

Furthermore and SemicolonsYou can use the “Furthermore” test to check if a semicolon is appropriate in a

sentence by replacing the semicolon with the word “Furthermore”. If the sentence still makes sense, chances are you can use a semicolon.

Don’t panic

Take deep breaths

Stretch out your arms and

hands

Roll your shoulders

Stretch out your neck

Be Confident, don’t give up

Before the test

• Think positive about yourself

• Write positive notes about yourself and put in a highly visible area

• Dress up for the test

During the test

• Remind yourself often that this is just a test

• Remind yourself that you know this information and are prepared

• Tell yourself that you are a hard worker

Post-its

Bump Chart for Writing Rubric

• Add an introduction paragraph

• Add a conclusion paragraph1 to 2• Take a clear position

• Give two examples of that in your body paragraph2 to 3• Avoid repetition

• Add to conclusion and introduction3 to 4• Make transitions between paragraphs more interesting

• Develop rebuttal4 to 5• Strongly develop arguments and rebuttal

• Choose strong words5 to 6

Question Stem Word/PhrasesThe primary purpose of the passage…The passage asserts

The authors purpose

The main function of the second paragraph

It can be reasonably deducedAs it is defined in the passageThe passage suggests…The author states…

According to the passage…The passage indicates…The author claims…

It can be reasonably inferred…The primary focus of lines 30-50…The author’s attitude toward the subject

Reading Techniques