| College students take tests: - Every time class meets | | | | do possess. Also, they take everything they're |
| - Once a week - Once a month - Once a semester - | | | | given-and sometimes professors give away quite a |
| Twice a semester - All of the above - None of the | | | | bit. Most professors have never taken Tests and |
| above The answer to the question is all of the | | | | Measurements, Educational Psychology, or other |
| above. Although a few professors give only one big, | | | | courses in teaching methods and techniques. Partly as |
| all-or-nothing (talk about pressure!) test at the end of | | | | a result, they often goof up on their own |
| the semester, most give at least two. Thus, at the | | | | exams-unintentionally dropping hints for those |
| very minimum, you can probably expect to take a | | | | students clever enough to take advantage of them. |
| midterm exam (usually given in a regular class | | | | Hey, a break for you! This question, for instance, |
| meeting) and a final, which is scheduled during a | | | | might show up on an American History exam: At the |
| special exam period at the end of the term. A final | | | | onset of World War II, the President of the United |
| exam normally lasts two or three hours; you may | | | | States was: A. Harry S Truman B. Dwight D. |
| finish in less time, or you may still be scribbling as | | | | Eisenhower C. Franklin D. Roosevelt D. Herbert C. |
| someone pries your blue exam book out of your | | | | Hoover Okay. Assume you're stumped by that one. |
| cramped hands. It's likely, however, that more than | | | | Later in the same test, however, you find: During the |
| two tests (and other factors, such as papers and | | | | early days of World War II, President Roosevelt's |
| discussion) will contribute to your final grade. In some | | | | Secretary of State was: A. Henry Wallace B. Cordell |
| classes, especially science-oriented ones in which | | | | Hull C. George C. Marshall D. Douglas MacArthur Well, |
| you're continually being bombarded with new terms | | | | you may not know who the Secretary of State was |
| and concepts, you may be tested once a week or | | | | (Mr. Hull), but you would have to be pretty |
| more. Which really isn't such a bad thing. In a way, | | | | unobservant not to have noticed that the second |
| getting lots of tests is better than having only one or | | | | question provides a big clue-the answer, in fact-to |
| two. For one thing, these tests tend to be "little": | | | | the first. "I've left myself open to just this kind of |
| Each one doesn't count for a major chunk of your | | | | thing many times," admits one professor, "and I'm |
| grade, so if you bomb one, it won't kill your overall | | | | amazed at how few students have grabbed the |
| average in the class. The sum total of these tests, | | | | freebies that have been available to them." The |
| however, may count for a lot-a third of your entire | | | | take-home message here: Grab the freebies. If you |
| grade, perhaps. So if you do well on these little | | | | really study the test, you can pick up clues that add |
| tests-and have a healthy grade going into the final or | | | | points to your score. It may not be much, but every |
| midterm-you might be in pretty good shape and feel | | | | little bit helps. Here are some other tips: - Don't leave |
| much less pressured as you prepare for the big ones. | | | | anything blank. You have a shot at points if you |
| Also, being tested regularly forces you to study and | | | | make a stab at an answer. You get diddley squat if |
| keep up with the material, which also is good; this | | | | you leave it blank. On true-or-false questions, you |
| way, you aren't trying to re-learn in December what | | | | have a fifty-fifty chance of getting it right; on a |
| you digested (and promptly forgot) way back in | | | | multiple-choice question, your odds are usually no |
| September. Types of Tests In huge lecture courses, | | | | worse than one in four. On short-answer questions, a |
| you'll probably get "objective" tests, which deal with | | | | professor may give you a mercy point or two for at |
| hard information more than ideas. In smaller discussion | | | | least making the effort-any effort-even if your |
| classes, you're much more likely to get essay exams, | | | | answer is almost entirely wrong. (Warning: Some |
| in which you'll be expected to organize concepts and | | | | professors penalize their students for guessing. Be |
| write thoughtful responses to questions. Objective | | | | sure to find out what your instructor's policy is |
| tests typically deal with true-or-false questions, | | | | before you take the test!) - Be ruthless with your |
| matching, multiple choice, identifications, and | | | | time. Suppose you're asked to identify the term |
| completions. As you've probably figured out, these | | | | "rationalism." Each identification is worth, say, five |
| tests are more convenient to grade and are often | | | | points and should be answered briefly. But wait! It |
| handled by machines or teaching assistants. For some | | | | just so happens that you studied the heck out of |
| students, however, these can be worse than essay | | | | rationalism; therefore, you're tempted to write three |
| tests. Particularly nightmarish are questions without an | | | | full pages on the subject to show off your |
| obvious answer but rather a confusing array of | | | | hard-earned knowledge. Don't. It's not worth it. Let it |
| answer options, such as: A B C D A, B, and D B and | | | | go. You're only going to get five points, tops, no |
| C A and C All of the above None of the above A, B, | | | | matter how much you write. So answer the question |
| and D? What kind of mind, you may wonder, dreams | | | | swiftly and move on. Don't tell everything you know |
| up such a test? We don't know. But we do know | | | | on this question; nobody cares. The shrewdest |
| that this kind of test-which might cause you to have | | | | test-takers respect the Point of Diminishing Returns |
| acid flashbacks to the SATs, Advanced Placement, | | | | and are ruthless in allocating their time. They demolish |
| or any other "achievement" tests you may have | | | | the easy stuff quickly and efficiently, saving up those |
| endured on your journey to college-throws a lot of | | | | precious extra minutes for the really tough questions |
| people. No test is a perfect instrument for measuring | | | | that carry big point values. The essay exam, some |
| a student's progress; each semester, some of the | | | | professors assert, calls for a higher order of mental |
| most capable students-people who think clearly, write | | | | processes. Instead of merely recognizing material, as |
| and talk well, and work hard-fail to come through | | | | in objective tests, you must also be prepared to |
| exams with the good grades they genuinely deserve. | | | | organize it, evaluate it, argue with it, generalize and |
| Maybe they suffer from what educational | | | | particularize from it, and relate it to other situations. |
| psychologists call "test anxiety"-believed to affect | | | | If an objective test calls for knowledge, then an |
| about 25 percent of all students, some much more | | | | essay exam calls for knowledge, judgment, and skill. |
| than others. The numbers are thought to be even | | | | Your judgment will be demonstrated by how well |
| higher for minority students. For whatever reason, | | | | you organize your thoughts (what you use and what |
| some good students just don't "test well." Others, | | | | you leave out), and your skill by how well you |
| however, seem to outdo themselves, to perform | | | | present what you know. |
| above their capabilities during exams. These students | | | | Gene Grzywacz is also author of: Going From a RN |
| may not be brilliant, but they're shrewd enough to | | | | to BSN, Standardized Tests and other tips for college. |
| squeeze the full mileage out of the knowledge they | | | | |