Transcript Test-taking strategies

Test-taking strategies:
How to approach Multiple-choice and True/False Questions
Essential Question
• How do we tackle Multiple-Choice and True or False questions? What
strategies do we use?
• What do you know?
Multiple-Choice Questions
• Carefully read both the question and all of the answers.
• Weeding out absolute answers
• Recognizing “umbrella” (or “fusion”) questions
Absolute Words
• One obstacle to tackling multiple
choice questions is when absolute
words appear in the choices. To the
right are some absolute words.
These usually make a sentence
false.
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None
Never
All
Always
Every day
Only
Must
Absolute Words Example
• According to the passage, the people of ancient China were very industrious.
How exactly were they considered to be industrious?
• A. They were all farmers and none of them were craftsmen.
• B. They were all craftsmen and none of them were farmers.
• C. Some of them were farmers and some of them were craftsmen.
• D. None of the people were farmers or craftsmen.
The answer is “C”
• In the previous question, choices A,B, and D all contained the absolute
words “none” or “all”. In general, absolute words limit too many options to
be good choices for an answer of a test.
• The correct choice, however, was more general because it contained the
word “may”.
Another Example
• The people of ancient China had to handle many conflicts from many
different forces. What kinds of conflicts did the ancient Chinese have to
handle?
• A. Only invasion forces from barbarians.
• B. Some conflicts with invaders and some with civil wars.
• C. Only civil wars and no problems from outside invaders.
• D. No conflicts at all.
The answer is “B”
• Choices “A”, “C”, and “D” all contain the absolute words “only” and “no”.
Choice “D” is also not the right answer because the question tells us that the
ancient Chinese had conflict, therefore “D” can’t be the answer since it
claims that there were no conflicts.
“Umbrella” Questions
• “Umbrella”, or “fusion”, questions are questions in which all of the answers
can look correct.
• Example: Which of these is the definition of a dynasty?
• A. The ruling power of China
• B. A family
• C. When one family has all of the ruling power.
• D. A family in the upper class
The answer is “C”
• With an umbrella question, all of the answers may seem correct at first
glance, but looking closely at them we see that choices “A”, “B”, and “D” are
all a part of choice “C”, “When one family has all of the ruling power.”
• These families tended to part of the elite class and they had absolute ruling
power over China.
Deductive-Reasoning
• Some questions are phrased using words that you’ve never heard of, or may
not even be real. These aren’t anything to freak out about
and they are made to test your deductive reasoning.
Or your ability to read carefully and deduce information
based on that reading.
Deductive Reasoning Question
• Question: The Chinese people wrote with a secret ink formula. It was made using ellision
and corbanite. Which of these components was more important to the creation of their ink?
• A. Ellision was more important.
• B. Corbanite was more important.
• C. Ellision was less important.
• D. Both A and B
The answer is “A”
• Despite not knowing what elision and corbanite is we can still look at the
question and find the correct answer.
• Choice “D” can’t be right because the question tells us that one of these
components was more important. The choices “B” and “C” say the same
exact thing, simply using different words. Therefore, the only remaining
choice, “A”, had to be our right choice.
Multiple-Choice Practice
• Which of the following is not a dynasty mentioned in the passage?
• A. The Shang dynasty
• B. The Qin dynasty
• C. The Mulan dynasty
• D. The Zhou dynasty
Multiple-Choice Practice
• Which of these was established by the Han Dynasty:
• A. The Great Wall of China
• B. A system of writing.
• C. Roads and Canals
• D. The Silk Road
True or False Questions
• A good rule of thumb is that unless you absolutely know the answer to be
FALSE, that you should pick TRUE.
• However, for a statement to be TRUE, everything about the statement must
be TRUE
• Be careful when a statement contains a negative however, such as “not”, “do
not”, or “in” (“infrequent”) and “un” (“unfriendly”)
• A negative can completely change the meaning of a statement.
True or False Tests
• If a statement has two negatives, cross out both of them in order to make it
easier to understand the statement.
• The Qin dynasty was never not a short lived but beneficial dynasty.
• Absolute statements are usually FALSE and they include words such as:
• All, every, never no
• Qualified statements are usually TRUE and they include words such as:
• Some, most, sometimes, rarely
True or False Practice
• The Chang Mung dynasty was one of the strongest dynasties in Chinese
history.
• People in ancient China always worked with their hands.
• China went through several dynasties throughout its history.
• The Great Wall of China was never not built to protect the Chinese from the
Barbarians.
True or False Answers
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False
False
True
False
Factoids
• Write down all of the fact that you can remember about test-taking strategies
for Multiple-Choice and True or False.
• Share your facts with your neighbor.