ASC

Study Skills Handout
Predicting Test Questions

The handout below is just one of the many handouts available at the Tutoring Center. If you are having trouble with study skills of any kind, or if you have questions about study skills that are not addressed here, stop in the Student Commons Building, Room 1300, at the Normal campus and talk to a tutor. He/she can provide additional handouts, help you recognize your strengths and weaknesses and help you formulate a plan to develop effective study strategies. To find out when tutors for various courses are available in Pontiac or Lincoln contact the receptionist in Pontiac (815-842-6777) or Lincoln (217-735-1731).

Predicting Test Questions

Predicting test questions is one of the most valuable study techniques you can engage in, and it is also one of the easiest to use. Essentially, when you predict test questions, you are "getting inside your instructor's head." You are attempting to think of what concepts might appear on an exam and in what form they might appear.

Once you discover that the origin of test questions is not a mystery, you will feel much more confident going into an exam. There is no trick to predicting test questions; you will discover it really is a simple process.

Get an accurate idea of what the test format is like early in the semester. Ask your instructor these things:

• What kinds of questions (essay, short answer, multiple choice, matching or true - false) will be included on the exam?
• Will one kind of questions comprise more of the exam than any of the others?

  If you know multiple choice questions are included, another point you might ask to have clarified is the level of knowledge being tested (recall, application or both). As the semester progresses, you will become increasingly familiar with your instructor's testing peculiarities and will probably not need to continue asking what the test(s) will be like.

As you start to predict test questions, think about the major concepts presented in the class.

• Which concepts seemed more important?
• Are any of the concepts main concepts under which smaller concepts fit?
• Which ideas did the instructor/textbook spend the most time on?
• Did the instructor underscore important concepts by making statements like "Make sure you understand this concept before you go on."
  
  Use the answers to these questions to form the topics of the test questions you will predict.

Also think about the way the test questions will be presented.

• Construct your questions in a way they are likely to appear on the actual test, but think flexibly.
• When you have formulated a predicted test question in one way (e.g., multiple choice) try to transform that material into another type of question (e.g., true-false) that could possibly appear on the exam.

Try to predict test questions following each lecture and reading session.

• As you predict questions, write them down and put them in a special place in your notebook.
• After you have written your predicted test items, analyze them. There is little benefit in predicting a test question if it is not analyzed.

You can analyze your test questions by examining them in light of the following:

• Is this a concept likely to appear on the test?
• Is there another format the instructor could use to assess your understanding of this particular topic?
• Is there another way to word this question? For objective questions, are all the generated choices plausible ones?
• If recall questions have been generated, how could they be transformed into application questions (or vice versa)?
• Application questions relate material to real-life situations. They are usually not answered with a definite "yes" or "no"; rather, they are more likely to be open-ended questions that begin with "what" "why" or "how."

Make an honest attempt to include the prediction of test questions in your study routine. It is simple, it can be enjoyable, and it works because it involves you with course material! You will not regret it!

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Adapted from materials developed by Lisa Cole and Dr. Julia Visor, Illinois State University