Multiple Choice Question Tips

8/8/2019 Multiple Choice Question Tips

1/16

MASTERINGMULTIPLE CHOICE

The definitive guide to better gradeson multiple choice exams

Stephen Merritt


2/16

Mastering Multiple ChoiceThe Definitive Guide to Better Grades

on Multiple Choice Exams

Stephen Merritt


3/16

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced mechanically, electronically or by any other means including photocopying without written permission of the publisher.

Published in Canada by The Brain [email protected]

ISBN 0-9739782-1-X

Copyright 2006 by Stephen Merritt

All Rights Reserved


4/16

INTRODUCTION


5/16

INTRODUCTION

HE LAST FEW DECADES have shown an massive increasein the use of multiple choice as the primary method ofmeasuring student success. Increasingly, students are

discovering that their final grade is determined by as few as oneor two multiple choice exams.

In fact, in many programs, your academic success is being

determined entirely by multiple choice exams. Period.Regardless of your topic of study, if you havent mastered the artof taking multiple choice exams, youre at risk of doing morepoorly than you should.

As of this writing, its been estimated that students in North America complete a staggering half a billion multiplechoice tests per year. Whats even more staggering is how

many students will do more poorly than they should or crashand burn altogether because they lack proper test-taking skills.

Tests like the SAT, MCAT, or LSAT, which allow entrance tograduate and post-graduate schooling are almost entirelymultiple choice. From exam halls to distance education, from weekend certificate courses to doctorate degrees, multiplechoice exams are determining the course of your future.

If youre in any kind of educational environment, multiplechoice exams are determining the course of your future.

T


6/16

6 Mastering Multiple Choice

Sound scary? It should.

What can you do about it? Well, you could protest at yourschool, write your government representatives, and stage examboycotts on campus.

Or you can, like many other smart students, learn to use these teststo your advantage. Yes, thats right. From here on, multiple choice

tests are your best friend come exam time.

Research shows that students can perform significantly better onobjective tests simply by improving their test-taking skills. Inplain English,you can get better grades without studying more.

Let me repeat that, because its the essence of this book: youcan get better grades without studying more. Learn it,

believe it. This book will give you some tips to study moreeffectively, but more importantly, it will teach you howto writetests better. As a matter of fact, I believe you can get bettergrades and studylessthan you currently are. Really.

Its likely you know someone who never seems to study, butdoes well on an exam. Or, to add insult to injury, they borrowyour notes the night before the exam and then beat you on the

test? This is often chalked up to luck or IQ. That guys justnaturally smart. He can get away without doing much work.

Dont believe it. The people who can do much with little oftenshare surprising traits. They dont like to study. Or theyre lazy.Or they have many other interests or obligations that preventthem from dedicating much time to studying. The differencebetween these people and the people who study a LOT and do

poorly is this: they have a system.


7/16

Mastering Multiple Choice 7

These lucky people who dont have to study are not

smarter. They simply have systems for learning material,and writing exams. The difference between them and youis nothing more than a system.

This book is that system, and you can start putting the system towork for you in just a few hours. Dont be scared by the wordsystem this is neither complicated nor time-consuming. Infact, its the opposite: easy and time creating. This is a simple

method to prepare for and write multiple choice exams thatanyone can master.

Why Multiple Choice?Good question. There are many different types of tests andexams essay, short answer and true/false, to name a few.Whats so special about multiple choice?

Multiple choice exams require a unique way oforganizing, learning, and recalling your material.

Multiple choice exams require you to approach yourexam in a specific way for best results.

Multiple choice questions require a specific, learnabletype of thinking that is independent of the subjectmaterial and how well you know it.

In other words, your success at multiple choice exams dependsnot just on how well you know your material, but how well youcan write the test.

What This Book Is

A proven system for getting more from every bit ofstudying you do.


8/16


A specific way of preparing for and writing multiplechoice exams.

A set of very focused techniques for dealing with thechallenges unique to multiple choice style questions.

A way of looking at how you learn and recallinformation that works best for multiple choice exams.

What This Book Isnt

A memory system

A vague study tips guide Difficult Time consuming

Who This Book Is For

College and university students

Adult learners High school students Professionals pursuing licensing Grad school applicants Anyone who suffers from test anxiety

Why Are Multiple Choice Tests So Common?The invention of the multiple choice test format is attributed toFrederick J. Kelly at the University of Kansas in 1914. The greatneed at the time was to find an efficient way to assess thedifferent talents of World War I military recruits. Multiplechoice offered a quick way to test and score abilityen masse, and was quickly adopted for other purposes, such as educational

testing, which is likely what led you to this book. And while theFirst World War may be long over, multiple choice testing isincreasing with each passing day.


9/16


Believe it or not, teachers and professors are just like us

theyre short on time, under pressure, and more or less just wantto lead a happy life.

Multiple choice tests offer these overworked academics aneasier, faster way to get the numbers they need to create yourgrades. If youve got 2000 students in a course, using acomputer to mark all the multiple choice tests in a few secondsis definitely easier than wading through pages of essay-type

responses.

And, supposedly, theyre objective. So your results shouldnt beaffected by a tired TA, or an instructor who doesnt like you.And they shouldnt be affected whether your paper is marked bya 10 year old or a computer.

So they should be fair to everyone, right? No teachers pet

marks, no marks for eloquence.

Wrong. For many people, multiple choice tests are hard by virtue of their format. And that makes them anything butobjective.

When you write a multiple choice exam, youre not just beingtested on history, welding, truck driving, physics, or math.

Youre being tested on your ability to read (and how fast youcan do it), and your ability to apply rules of logic to writtenstatements. In addition to chemistry youre being tested on howwell you write tests.

And if you dont write them well, youre at a disadvantage.

When you write a multiple choice exam, youre not just

being tested on the subject matter. Youre being tested onhow well you write tests.


10/16


Why Are Multiple Choice Tests Hard?

The fact is they can be very hard. Here are just a few reasonswhy multiple choice tests may be giving you grief:

Overconfidence you think multiple choice tests are easy,so you study less.

Trickery your professor thinks that multiple choice testsare easy, so they create tricky, confusing questions.

Time Pressures multiple choice tests are oftenintentionally lengthened. Weve all felt this one.

Broader range the questions are short and fast, so a LOTof ground can be covered in one exam.

Specific data Since the answers are right there on thepage (yup, its true), specifics like dates, names andplaces become fair game.

Cant bluff No BS on these suckers. No part marks.No bonuses for writing an eloquent sentence to disguisethe fact that you have absolutely no idea what theanswer is.

Difficult for teacher to write Thats right. Creating a goodmultiple choice test is a skill. And not all professorshave it.

Content is shuffled many multiple choice tests have nostructure whatsoever. You could be answering a physics

question and a history question back to back. Thatshard on the noggin.


11/16


Why Should They Be Easy?Sound bleak so far? Heres the good news: from here on in, itsall about how to beat the multiple choice test format. To startour new optimistic outlook, here are a few reasons why thephrase multiple choice should be music to your ears:

The Answer Is Given To You Thats right. Somewhere inthe list of responses is the right answer. What could be

easier? You Can Guess You may hear that you shouldnt guess.

Im telling you right now its not true. This book willteach you how to guessproperly.

Basic Brainwork Many multiple choice exams tend toemphasize basic definitions or simple comparisons,rather than asking students to analyze new informationor apply theories to new situations. In other words,

theyre often easier. More Questions What! I thought more questions made it

harder! That may be true, but more questions meanseach question is worth less overall. That lowers yourrisk on each question.

Grammar Dont Count You dont have to beShakespeare to write multiple choice. At the most youjust have to neatly color in circles. So you dont have tobe Picasso either.


12/16


MMC Success

Here are some benefits you can expect almost immediatelyafterputting the system to work:

Less Study TimeI dont know how much studying youredoing now, but I do know that the average personstudies more than they need to. What youre going to

learn is how to studysmarterso you can spend more timedoing the things you really enjoy.

Increased Confidence Research shows that this is the keyfactor inwell, pretty much everything. Confidence isthe single largest factor in effective memory!

Reduce or Eliminate Test Anxiety The better you controlthis, the better off youll be. If you suffer from testanxiety, this book will help you get that beast undercontrol, and raise your grades in the process.

Finish on Time These tests can be long, and hard.Mismanaging your time can kill you on objective tests.Howd you like to finish every exam with time to spare?

Reduced Confusion Multiple choice tests are all aboutlogic. Understanding what something like never notunnecessary means can change your grades. Trickquestions, confusing wording and more theyre allcovered.

Knowing How and When to Guess Guessing does have aplace in multiple choice exams. The secret is to knowwhen to guess, and how to do it properly.

Better Grades! In the end, thats what were really after,and what this books all about.


13/16


The Answers To YOUR Questions

If youre reading this book, Ill bet youre looking for answers.And Ill bet the questions to those answers look something likethis:

Im busy. I dont have time to study more. How can Iget better grades without studying more than I alreadyam?

Im so frustrated. I feel like I know the material, butevery time I write a multiple choice exam I do worsethan I should. I do fine on written exams, like essays.How can I do better at multiple choice?

I just keep studying more and more, but my gradesarent improving. How can I find a way do betterwithout burning out?

Theres a guy in my course who never seems to study.I dont even think he goes to class. I dont know whether I want to kill him, or be just like him. Howdoes he do it?

As soon as I start a multiple choice exam, I go blank. Iread a few questions, and start to panic. How can I keepit together?

Im an adult. Ive got a career, a family, and amortgage. Plus its been years since I was a student. Im

taking a course to advance my career, but the exams arekilling me. How can I study quickly and effectively, andfigure out how to deal with these crazy multiple choiceexams?

Any of these sound familiar? Mastering Multiple Choicewill helpwith all of these, and many more. Lets get started.


14/16


GETTING STARTED

How To Use This Guide

This book is built on three Mastery Principles. Each MasteryPrinciple is a piece of your overall strategy for complete examsuccess. Within each Mastery Principle are a series of corestrategies. By learning and applying these core strategies, youll

become successful in each of the Mastery Principles.

The Mastery Principles are, in order:

1. Principle One: Master Your MaterialThis is the before the exam section. It deals with howto organize and learn your subject matter. Textbooks,notes, lectures whatever makes up the content that

youll be tested on. The objective here is to learn morequickly and effectively, in a way particularly suited tomultiple choice exams.

2. Principle Two: Master Test-TakingHow you take the test is critical. In this section, youlllearn how to write exams more quickly, recall more ofwhat you studied, and ensure that you never run out of

time on an exam again.

3. Principle Three: Master The QuestionsIn this section youll learn how to analyze the actualquestions themselves, avoiding word traps, and findingthe right answer even when you havent studied enough.

Whats the most important thing about this list? Its in priority

sequence. In other words, the Mastery Principles at the top willhave greater impact on your outcome than the ones on thebottom. So, if you have an exam tomorrow you can skip to thelast section, but youll be missing out on the best stuff.


15/16


Each of the Mastery Principles is like a position on a long lever.The farther out the lever you move, the more leverage you get,and the easier it is to do more work with the same effort. Soyoull get more mileage out of Mastering Test-Taking, if youvealready Mastered Your Material.

Remember: most people fail exams before they get there.

Most people fail exams before they get there.

You can dramatically improve your exam results simply bychanging how you prepare, and how you take the test. Even ifyou dont change how you study, youll notice a significantdifference in your results simply by following the techniques inPrinciple II: Master Test-Taking. A small shift in your approachcan generate enormous return.

Focus on Mastering Your Material and Mastering Test-Taking. These are the areas where youll learn to work smarter notharder, and theyll determine your success in later areas. Thenuse the specific techniques in Mastering The Questions to crankup your grades even further.

Through all of this, remember that multiple choice test-taking is

a skill. It improves with practice and knowledge.

Good luck!


16/16

Youve been reading an excerpt from

Mastering Multiple ChoiceThe Definitive Guide to Better Grades on

Multiple Choice Exams

Put theMastering Multiple Choicesystem to work immediatelyby downloading the complete book at:

www.masteringmultiplechoice.com/get-mmc.html

Good luck with your studies!

Stephen Merritt,Author,Mastering Multiple Choice
http://get-mmc.html/http://get-mmc.html/http://get-mmc.html/

Documents

Multiple Choice Question Tips