Whether you're getting ready to apply for admission to college or are seeking a professional certification, preparing to take a standardized exam can be very stressful. Not only do you need to possess a solid understanding of the material covered by the exam, you also have to know how to read questions that sometimes seem to be worded in a deliberately tricky manner. To compound the issue, you also have to cope with the added variable of dealing with completing your exam with an allotted amount of time in a controlled testing environment. Fortunately, there are many things you can do to take some of the stress out of the standardized test taking process. Test Taking Techniques If it's been a while since your last standardized exam, you'll …show more content…
Watch very carefully for absolute words such as "all" and "always". The fact that a particular occurrence is usually true does not mean that it is always true. Remember that if any one part of a statement is not correct, then the answer has to be false. Test Preparation During the weeks prior to your scheduled exam date, it's a good idea to complete one or more practice tests specific to the exam you are going to take. Score your practice test questions, and look closely at the items you missed. By making sure you understand the reasons the answers you selected were incorrect, you'll be in a better position to interpret the questions correctly the next time. While you are preparing for the exam, learn what you can about the manner in which the test will be scored. It is very important to find out if wrong answers count against your score. If they do, you should avoid guessing if you aren't fairly certain which answer is correct. If there is no penalty for wrong answers, however, make sure that you don't leave any questions blank. If a wrong answer can't hurt your score, it only makes sense to attempt to answer every question. Doing so might actually have a positive impact on the outcome of the