Emmanuel College

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Reasons for Getting Multiple Choice Questions Wrong

  1. "I simply don't know the answer and never did."

    Change the way you take notes
    and read the text.

  2. "I knew the answer once, but didn't think it was important, so didn't concentrate on it, or didn't drill it, or didn't study it in connection with similar things, so got it mixed up."

    Change the way you drill yourself.
    Work on predicting questions.

  3. "I misread the question. I didn't take the time to read the question thoroughly, or missed NOT or EXCEPT or ALL OF THE FOLLOWING BUT... , or missed FIRST, or MOST IMPORTANT, or BEST REASON, or missed a detail in the question that changed it."

    Change the way you approach the test.
    Read each question carefully,
    noting key words.

  4. "I failed to eliminate wrong answers because I didn't think of an answer before reading the test answers, or jumped at the first likely answer, didn't read all the choices, or didn't cross out wrong answers, or stayed with answers instead of checking every detail of each answer against the question."

    Change the way you read the answers.

  5. "I let stress get in the way and lost concentration, or changed a right answer, or chose an unknown word just because it was unknown, or stayed on one question too long, or focused on a small detail and missed the larger picture, or assumed there was a trick, or figured that whatever I put, it would be wrong anyway."

    Change the way you think about tests.

    YOU are taking the test.
    The test is NOT taking you.