April 29, 2009 Top Ten Test Taking Tips • Practice relaxation such as breathing or closing eyes to concentrate. • Listen carefully to all of the directions. • Practice time management during the test. Skip problems you can’t solve in a reasonable amount of time. • Eliminate answers you know are wrong. Watch for answer distracters (obviously wrong answers). In some cases, you must go with the “best answer” since there sometimes is not a “perfect answer.” • Mark bubbles completely and stay in the lines. • Avoid pencils that are too sharp or pressing too hard. The mark will bleed through the opposite side of the answer document. If it is aligned with a bubble, the scanner will pick up the wrong mark. • Practice working alone. • Organize your desk. Practice using a test, answer document, and scratch paper. Practice transferring answers from scratch paper to answer documents. • Get a good night’s sleep, and eat a good breakfast (low sugar!) before and healthy snacks during the testing period. (And every other day as well!) • Stop watching TV and playing video games 1 week before testing. Recent brain research from Stanford suggests that a 1-week break from television media will allow the brain to rest, and the result is that it is easier to focus on tests!