Top 10 Test Taking Tips

1. Be prepared
Get ready for the test at least a day early. Set out the clothes you plan to wear, your pencils/pens, calculators and any other supplies you may need or want to bring with you to the test. Make sure your calculator has fresh batteries and works properly. A snack is also a good thing to consider bringing, but be wary as some testing centers do not allow snacks to be taken in.

2. Don’t panic in the last week
You’ve already done enough studying. In the last week before the test, don’t try to learn new things, rather, reinforce what you already have learned. Continue your studies, but keep it to a minimal to keep your stress down.

3. Wear comfortable clothes, and in layers
Comfortable clothes as to keep you focused, and in layers as you don’t know if the center is going to be freezing or hot. You can always take clothes off, but you can’t put them on if you don’t have any, so wear multiple layers. My suggestions are comfortable sweat pants with basketball shorts underneath, and a t-shirt with a sweater on top.

4. Get there at least 20 minutes early
Its always important to get there early. Find out about your surroundings and prepare yourself for your test. Also, getting there early shows intiative, and can help you out by getting a preferred seat. I recommend a seat in the back and next to a wall – less crowd around you.

5. If you can’t figure it out – MOVE ON!
Timed tests are difficult, and the more time you spend on one question the less time you will have to spend it on others. All questions are of equal credit, so take care of the easy ones first, and when you have time leftover at the end, then go back to questions you were stuck on.

6. Don’t try and find the ungraded section
In some tests, particuraly the SAT, one of the sections is an ‘experimental’ section and will not be graded. Sure, you can gamble a bit and try and find out which one will not be graded – but don’t risk it. Do the best you can on ALL the sections.

7. Watch where you are in a section
Generally in tests, the questions move from easy to harder. If a question jumps out and screams ‘easy’ and the answer is obvious in the beginning of the test, its probably correct. If this happens near the end of the section, it very well could be a trick question.

8. Answer every question – even if you don’t know the answer
On the SAT, a correct answer is +1 while a wrong answer if -1/4. Using math, that means every four questions, one is bound to be correct. This means that even if you guess on the entire test, it will all still equal out. Naturally, to increase the chances of a correct guess, cross out answers that are obviously not the answer. The more you can cross out, the more likely you got the right answer.

9. Bubble-In with caution
You may know that you filled in the letter ‘C’, but the Scan Tron machine grading your paper might not. Take extra care when filling in your bubbles, the best method is starting from inside to out using a swirl type of motion.

10. Chill out
You can always retake certain tests – Don’t worry. Its not the end of the world. Yet.