tips for essay test taking

The 20 best test-taking strategies used by top students

You need to ace that exam. Set yourself up for success by mastering these 22 test-taking strategies used by the very best students.

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If you have a feeling of impending doom when you walk into an exam room; get nightmares in which you turn up without your pants on; and spend the first few minutes in a cold sweat, these test-taking tips are the dragon-slaying knight to your damsel in distress.

In this guide, I'm going to walk you through the 20 best test-taking strategies to keep you calm, and thinking and performing optimally in any test or exam. These test-taking tips fall into one of eight categories:

• The 2-3-day lead-up to your test or exam

The best test-taking strategies for the exam room

• Essay exam -taking skills
• Multiple choice exam- taking skills
• Test-taking tips for when you're done writing (or think you're done)

Test-taking tips for when you're drawing a blank

Following these tips and strategies will ensure that you do your absolute best , even if you accidentally leave your studying for the last minute .

Let's dive in!

Strategy test prep 2 to 3 days before an exam

The two to three-day lead-up to your exam is a crucial period. There’s a whole lot you can do in this time to make sure that you're in peak condition, both mentally and physically...

Test-taking tip 1. Optimize your studying

Put down the highlighter. Now's the time to study as efficiently as possible (because your time is super limited), consolidate what you've been learning in the prior weeks and months, and put it into practice with some practice tests or mock exams:

• Study efficiently with flashcards , especially Brainscape's already-made flashcards for hundreds of subjects , since you won't have time to make any.
• Try to find and do some practice exams. This will highlight knowledge weaknesses you may have while familiarizing you with the exam format, so there aren’t any unpleasant surprises on test day.
• Use the Feynman Technique . The best way to iron-proof your knowledge of a subject is to teach it aloud from the very basics up. Use your little brother, sleeping cat, or potted plant as your student.

Test-taking tip 2. Prioritize your sleep in the days before your exam

We know that cramming and pulling all-nighters is, like, "a thing" for students but it is quite honestly the most garbage of all the test-taking strategies. You may as well tie a 100-pound weight to your brain and ask it to run a one-minute mile.

Sleep is crucial for good brain health and memory. You're better off getting a good night's rest the night before an exam than pulling an all-nighter. (In fact, one study showed that sleep-deprived people performed about as well as people who were high on marijuana , which is far from ideal when you’re trying to operate at your mental peak.)

So, prioritize good sleep always ... but especially in the days leading up to your exams. Your brain will reward you with greater clarity, memory, and creativity. (And if you struggle with insomnia, we got you .)

Test-taking tip 3. Feed your brain

So many students focus only on piling information into their brains in preparation for exams but not on optimizing their brain health . Food is another crucial factor that controls how well your brain performs so make sure you have a good breakfast of slow-release carbohydrates and proteins to supply your body and brain with a steady feed of energy throughout the day.

Also, avoid sugar-packed foods and beverages . Sure, they give you a burst of energy but quite soon after the rush, your body produces insulin to get your blood sugar under control causing you to feel sleepy . Not great for a 2 to 3-hour exam.

In general, you're going to have much more energy and perform better cognitively if you consume a balanced diet with plenty of healthy grains, fats, proteins, fruits, and vegetables. And don't forget to hydrate!

Test-taking tip 4. Arrive at the exam venue 30 minutes early

You're probably already a little stressed out. The last thing you need to add to your plate is the utter panic of getting lost, missing your bus, or getting stuck in a traffic jam. Make sure you’ve allowed plenty of time to find your exam room and get settled.

If you have time to spare, flip through some flashcards and take your last restroom break before the exam starts!

Pro tip: try to avoid other students, if possible. When you get to your test room, treat any stressed-out fellow students like they have the ebola virus. Stress is contagious, and no matter your state of preparation, you’re better off staying in your headspace.

The prep is done. You're at the exam venue and sitting down, ready to take the test. It's go time! Here are the best test-taking strategies for maximizing your score...

Test-taking tip 5. Listen and/or read the instructions carefully

Possibly the dumbest thing you can do in any test or exam is leave points on the table because you didn't listen to the examiner or read their instructions. Do not make this mistake. Most of the time, the instructions are routine, but you never know when something unexpected will show up: like a unique preference the examiner has.

Part and parcel of this is carefully reading the questions and making sure you answer them by addressing specifically what is being asked of you.

Test-taking tip 6. Scan the exam paper and do a rough time allocation

Spend no more than one or two minutes scanning your test or exam to give yourself a 30,000-foot view of its anatomy. What do want to walk away with from this initial inspection is how much time you roughly have for each section of the exam. (Sometimes, examiners provide this time estimate for you.)

This will prevent you from running out of time.

Test-taking tip 7. Answer the easy questions first

Start by answering the easy questions first (or the topics you know well). This not only builds your confidence , getting you into your flow state quicker, but it also allows you to rip through a significant portion of your test as quickly as possible , leaving you more time to tackle the harder sections.

That said, don't waste your time trying to cherry-pick which parts of the exam count as "easy" for you. If you read a question and can't answer it immediately, move on and come back to it later once you've captured your answers to all the questions you do know.

The best test-taking strategies for mastering your mindset

The key to getting an A is having the right mindset and staying focused. Here are some test-taking strategies to optimize your concentration and thinking before and during an exam.

Test-taking tip 8. Recognize (and set aside) the inner critic

Especially at the start of your test, be on the alert for the voice of “the inner critic”. You know the one: that annoying negative voice in your head that says things like “I don’t have nearly enough time to answer all these questions!” “That last essay I wrote was rubbish!” “I’ll never pass this!” etc.

This voice can become very loud if you’re feeling anxious while taking a test but just remember: you don’t have to believe everything you think.

Your best test-taking strategy here is to recognize the voice , set it aside, and get on with your exam. Even if you didn't put your all into your prep, you will always have another chance to do better.

Test-taking tip 9. Breathe deeply to calm your nerves

Some people get really stressed out before an exam and it can derail their focus and ability to perform. The quickest, surest way to calm your nerves is by slowing down your breathing:

• Put one hand on your tummy,
• Breathe out until you can’t anymore,
• And then breathe in slowly through your nose.

This engages diaphragmatic breathing, which calms your body down , alleviating the body’s stress responses.

How do you know when you’re doing diaphragm breathing correctly? When you breathe in, the hand on your tummy will move outwards. When you breathe out, this hand will move inwards. Count slowly to ten while you do a few calm diaphragmatic breaths, then continue your test.

Essay exam-taking skills

Essays are unique challenges that require a toolbox of exam-taking skills. Unlike short, open-response questions, they require a narrative, which in turn requires planning. You also need to keep coming back to the question to ask yourself: have I given the examiner everything they're asking for? Have I accounted for every possible point allocated to this question?

So here are the best test-taking strategies to apply to essay exams...

Test taking tip 10. Read the question carefully

We've been through this before but it's especially important for essay questions, which are much longer. Make sure you satisfy the examiner and account for all the points allocated to that question or else you're leaving points on the table. Remember, the best exam essay answers the question. To answer the question, you have to read it carefully.

Test taking tip 11. Plan your essay

It may feel like wasted time, but it's NOT. A minute or two spent planning how best to answer a question (and how you intend to structure your response) will make your job much easier. It'll ensure that your essay has a logical structure and it'll be quicker to write. Always plan first.

Try drawing a quick mind map of what you’ll cover, or write an outline by sketching the main and supporting points for each argument in the essay before you start.

Test taking tip 12. Practice your essay exam-taking skills

The best way to get good at writing essays is to practice them . Ask your teacher for a list of possible essay topics on your subject and then practice writing them at home. Share your work with your teacher for feedback and then rewrite those essays with that feedback in mind.

If this sounds like an awful lot of work, it is . But I promise you this: you'll become an essay assassin and the essay exam-taking skills you build here will follow you into college, your postgraduate studies, and your professional life. You're welcome.

Multiple choice exam-taking skills

Multiple-choice tests or exam sections may seem much easier than longer, open-response questions but they too present their challenges! Here are the best test-taking strategies to bear in mind when tackling multiple-choice tests.

Test-taking tip 13. Understand the rules of the game!

Always, always, always check the rules before you start answering multiple-choice questions: will you be penalized for wrong answers or not?

• If you’re penalized for wrong answers, don’t guess . Just leave out the questions you’re not sure of.
• If there's no penalty for wrong marks, definitely guess. As Michael Jordan said: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Just leave yourself some time to come back to the questions you weren’t sure of and give them your best guess.

The best test-taking strategies for when you're done writing (or think you're done)

Test-taking tip 14. check your work.

There are three positions you’ll be in at the end of the test. You’ll either be:

• Finishing with 5 to 15 minutes left for a quick revision of your work.
• Finishing with a LOT of time to spare.
• Running out of time, and not sure whether you’ll finish before the clock.

Each of these requires a different test-taking strategy.

1. Finishing with 5 to 15 minutes to spare If you’re writing essay questions, check your introductions and conclusions. These are where you can make the most impact. Put yourself in the shoes of a tired examiner who’s had to mark thirty similar essays that day.

Look for ways to make yours stand out. A strong conclusion is particularly impactful due to the recency effect, meaning humans recall the most recently presented information best . So even if you lost your way a bit during the middle, a strong, clear conclusion will help carry you through.

For multiple-choice tests, check for any questions you missed. Avoid the temptation to redo questions you’ve already done, unless you’re 100% certain.

2. Finishing with a LOT of time to spare As much as you may want to rush out of the exam room and erase the test from all memory, don’t . Having a lot of time at the end of a test usually comes down to one of these three reasons:

• You’re a total ace and know the answers like your ABCs.
• You’ve totally flunked, and have no idea what subject you were meant to be studying. Are you even in the right exam room?
• You’re pretty well prepared, but you’ve missed some vital information, and need to play catchup.

If you’re in category one or two, there’s not much to be done. Category three though, can be a heartbreaker. So let’s make sure you’re not about to throw your exam because you’ve misread the instructions or skipped a section.

Firstly, check your exam paper for any pages that may have become stuck together, hiding questions you’ve missed.

Secondly, if you’re writing essays, check the required length of the answers to make sure you haven’t shortchanged yourself there.

Thirdly, check if all the page numbers are sequential in the exam , and if you haven’t been accidentally given a test paper with missing pages. Look for any inserts or added sections that may have fallen off your desk or become mixed up in your writing paper.

Once you’ve done this, you’ll either be writing frantically to finish an essay in time, or you can smile, sit back, and put yourself in the first category.

3. Running out of time If you’re running out of time for essay questions, it’s okay to jot down your thoughts in point form . You’ll likely still get credit for them. After all, the aim is to demonstrate your knowledge, and most examiners will give you marks, even if your sentences aren’t complete.

For a multiple-choice test, first check you won’t be penalized for wrong answers . Then, do a lightning round of filling out the first answer that springs to mind. Give yourself a reasonably short time for each question, and GO!

If you sit down to start your test and discover your mind has gone as blank as a Zen monk after a year-long silent retreat, here are a few test-taking strategies for getting the engine started...

Test-taking tip 15. Label what you’re feeling

Emotions can be overwhelming in times like these. When you label them, you put them outside yourself and make them more manageable. i.e. “I’m feeling anxious because I can’t remember anything about quadratic equations.” This can have the effect of diffusing the emotion.

Test-taking tip 16. Do the easy questions first

Scan the questions until you find one you know the answer to. Sometimes you just need a few easy questions under your belt before your brain kicks into gear and you go into flow.

Test-taking tip 17. Breathe and stretch

Our body and mind are connected. If you're blanking, try using your body to get those mental juices flowing. Take 30 seconds to focus on your breathing and gently stretch your body. Relaxing can help you re-concentrate on the exam with better focus.

Strategy 18. Take some perspective

Remember that however dire the consequences of failing a written test are, they are never fatal. You’ll be okay in the end, and if you’re not okay right now, it’s not yet the end. Sometimes a quick change in perspective can give you the shift you need to relax and get your brain into gear.

Strategy test prep: the power of "the debrief"

Your exam is done and the relief is real . But before you blithely forget you ever wrote an exam, now's the perfect time to debrief so that you can do better in the future. After all, how do you expect to improve your test-taking skills if you don't reflect on the one you just wrote? Do that now: take the time to do a good post-mortem and set yourself up for future success.

Test-taking tip 19. Avoid the people who'll make you feel bad

We all do it: gather together after exams to compare notes. But, if possible, try to avoid a detailed post-mortem with those students who are either freaking out, convinced they failed or are swanning about with smug superiority.

That energy just isn't helpful.

Test-taking tip 20. Do a self-assessment

That said, it’s a really good idea to take thirty minutes that evening or the next day to sit somewhere quiet and do a self-assessment of your test. This is about you improving your overall performance, and it’s the kind of analysis that will help you do well on future tests.

Think about what you did well and what you could have done better, not only in how you answered questions but also in terms of your exam mindset, study habits, and overall enjoyment of the subject.

Perhaps you should try to include some new study tools to help you prepare more efficiently for future tests and exams. (Like Brainscape's flashcards #shamelessplug) Or maybe you need to find better ways to control your stress leading up to exams.

This kind of reflection is valuable, both for future performance and as a life skill. From Socrates to Ben Franklin, examining your life puts you in good stead for lifelong learning and will improve your test-taking strategies.

Make these 20 best test-taking strategies a habit

Now you know the best test-taking strategies used by top students. While building strong study habits is essential to a high test score, good exam technique is also key. Practice these test-taking strategies often enough, and you will become a test machine, acing each exam with cyborg-like precision.

Burrows, T., Goldman, S., Pursey, K., & Lim, R. (2016). Is there an association between dietary intake and academic achievement: a systematic review. Journal of Human Nutrition and Dietetics , 30 (2), 117–140. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.12407

Butler, N., & Lillis, C. (2019, June 27). What are some slow-release carbs? Medical News Today. https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325586

Cleveland Clinic Medical. (2022, March 30). Diaphragmatic breathing . Cleveland Clinic. https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/articles/9445-diaphragmatic-breathing

Dodeen, N. H. (2015). Teaching Test-Taking Strategies: Importance and Techniques. Psychology Research , 05 (02). https://doi.org/10.17265/2159-5542/2015.02.003

Harvard Health. (2016, March 10). Learning diaphragmatic breathing . https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/learning-diaphragmatic-breathing

Lehrer, J. (2011, December 6). Why sugar makes us sleepy (And protein wakes us up). WIRED . https://www.wired.com/2011/12/why-sugar-makes-us-sleepy-and-protein-wakes-us-up/

Murdock, B. B. (1962). The serial position effect of free recall. Journal of Experimental Psychology , 64 (5), 482–488. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0045106

Thomas, M., Sing, H., Belenky, G., Holcomb, H., Mayberg, H., Dannals, R., Wagner, H., Jr, Thorne, D., Popp, K., Rowland, L., Welsh, A., Balwinski, S., & Redmond, D. (2000). Neural basis of alertness and cognitive performance impairments during sleepiness. I. Effects of 24 h of sleep deprivation on waking human regional brain activity. Journal of Sleep Research , 9 (4), 335–352. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2869.2000.00225.x

University of Northern Colorado. (2024). Test-Taking Strategies. In University of Northern Colorado . University of Northern Colorado- University 101. https://www.unco.edu/student-academic-success/academic-success/academic-success-resources/pdf/SAS_test_taking.pdf

Walck-Shannon, E. M., Rowell, S. F., & Frey, R. F. (2021). To what extent do study habits relate to performance? CBE Life Sciences Education , 20 (1), ar6. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.20-05-0091

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14 Tips for Test Taking Success

Worried about getting through your next big exam? Here are 14 test taking strategies that can help you do your best on your next test.

Mary Sharp Emerson

From pop quizzes to standardized tests, exams are an important part of the life of every high school student.

The best way to ensure that you’ll get the grade you want is to understand the material thoroughly. Good test taking skills, however, can help make the difference between a top grade and an average one. Mastering these skills can also help reduce stress and relieve test-taking anxiety. 

In this blog, we’ve divided our tips for test taking into two categories: seven things you can do to prepare for your next exam and seven things you should do once the test begins. We’ve also included four strategies that can help with test taking anxiety.

We hope these test taking tips will help you succeed the next time you are facing an exam, big or small!

Seven Best Strategies for Test Prep

You’ve probably heard the quote (originally credited to Alexander Graham Bell): “Preparation is the key to success.”

When it comes to test taking, these are words to live by. 

Here are the seven best things you can do to make sure you are prepared for your next test.

1. Cultivate Good Study Habits

Understanding and remembering information for a test takes time, so developing good study habits long before test day is really important. 

Do your homework assignments carefully, and turn them in on time. Review your notes daily. Write out your own study guides. Take advantage of any practice tests your teacher gives you, or even create your own. 

These simple steps, when done habitually, will help ensure that you really know your stuff come test day. 

2. Don’t “Cram”

It might seem like a good idea to spend hours memorizing the material you need the night before the test.

In fact, cramming for a test is highly counterproductive. Not only are you less likely to retain the information you need, cramming also increases stress, negatively impacts sleep, and decreases your overall preparedness.

So avoid the temptation to stay up late reviewing your notes. Last minute cramming is far less likely to improve your grade than developing good study habits and getting a good night’s sleep.

3. Gather Materials the Night Before

Before going to bed (early, so you get a good night’s sleep), gather everything you need for the test and have it ready to go. 

Having everything ready the night before will help you feel more confident and will minimize stress on the morning of the test. And it will give you a few extra minutes to sleep and eat a healthy breakfast.

4. Get a Good Night’s Sleep

And speaking of sleep…showing up to your test well-rested is one of the best things you can do to succeed on test day.

Why should you make sleep a priority ? A good night’s sleep will help you think more clearly during the test. It will also make it easier to cope with test-taking stress and anxiety. Moreover, excellent sleep habits have been shown to consolidate memory and improve academic performance, as well as reduce the risk of depression and other mental health disorders. 

5. Eat a Healthy Breakfast

Like sleeping, eating is an important part of self-care and test taking preparation. After all, it’s hard to think clearly if your stomach is grumbling.

As tough as it can be to eat when you’re nervous or rushing out the door, plan time in your morning on test day to eat a healthy breakfast. 

A mix of complex carbohydrates and healthy protein will keep you feeling full without making you feel sluggish. Whole wheat cereal, eggs, oatmeal, berries, and nuts may be great choices (depending on your personal dietary needs and preferences). It’s best to avoid foods that are high in sugar, as they can give you a rush of energy that will wear off quickly, leaving you feeling tired.

And don’t forget to drink plenty of water. If possible, bring a bottle of water with you on test day.

6. Arrive Early

Arriving early at a test location can help decrease stress. And it allows you to get into a positive state of mind before the test starts. 

Choose your seat as soon as possible. Organize your materials so they are readily available when you need them. Make sure you are physically comfortable (as much as possible). 

By settling in early, you are giving yourself time to get organized, relaxed, and mentally ready for the test to begin. Even in a high school setting, maximizing the time you have in the test classroom—even if it’s just a couple of minutes—can help you feel more comfortable, settled, and focused before the test begins. 

7. Develop Positive Rituals

Don’t underestimate the importance of confidence and a positive mindset in test preparation. 

Positive rituals can help combat negative thinking, test anxiety, and lack of focus that can easily undermine your success on test day. Plan some extra time to go for a short walk or listen to your favorite music. Engage in simple breathing exercises. Visualize yourself succeeding on the test. 

Your rituals can be totally unique to you. The important thing is developing a calming habit that will boost your confidence, attitude, and concentration when the test begins.

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Seven Best Test-Taking Tips for Success

You have gotten a good night’s sleep, eaten a healthy breakfast, arrived early, and done your positive test-day ritual. You are ready to start the test! 

Different types of tests require different test taking strategies. You may not want to approach a math test the same way you would an essay test, for example. And some computerized tests such as SATs require you to work through the test in a specific way.

However, there are some general test taking strategies that will improve your chances of getting the grade you want on most, if not all, tests. 

1. Listen to the Instructions

Once the test is front of you, it’s tempting to block everything out so you can get started right away. 

Doing so, however, could cause you to miss out on critical information about the test itself.

The teacher or proctor may offer details about the structure of the test, time limitations, grading techniques, or other items that could impact your approach. They may also point out steps that you are likely to miss or other tips to help improve your chances of success. 

So be sure to pay close attention to their instructions before you get started.

2. Read the Entire Test

If possible, look over the entire test quickly before you get started. Doing so will help you understand the structure of the test and identify areas that may need more or less time. 

Once you read over the test, you can plan out how you want to approach each section of the test to ensure that you can complete the entire test within the allotted time.

3. Do a “Brain Dump”

For certain types of tests, remembering facts, data, or formulas is key. For these tests, it can be helpful to take a few minutes to write down all the information you need on a scrap paper before you get started. 

Putting that important information on paper can relieve stress and help you focus on the test questions without worrying about your ability to recall the facts. And now you have a kind of “cheat sheet” to refer to throughout the test!

4. Answer the Questions You Know First

When possible, do a first pass through the test to answer the “easy” questions or the ones you know right away. When you come to a question that you can’t answer (relatively) quickly, skip it on this first pass. 

Don’t rush through this first pass, but do be mindful of time—you’ll want to leave yourself enough time to go back and answer the questions you skipped. 

* It’s important to remember that this technique is not possible on some tests. Standardized computer-based tests often do not allow you to skip questions and return to them later. On these types of tests, you will need to work through each problem in order instead of skipping around. 

5. Answer the Questions You Skipped

Once you’ve done a first pass, you now have to go back and answer the questions you skipped.

In the best case scenario, you might find some of these questions aren’t as challenging as you thought at first. Your mind is warmed up and you are fully engaged and focused at this point in the test. And answering the questions you know easily may have reminded you of the details you need for these questions.

Of course you may still struggle with some of the questions, and that’s okay. Hopefully doing a first pass somewhat quickly allows you to take your time with the more challenging questions.

6. Be Sure the Test is Complete

Once you think you’ve answered all the questions, double check to make sure you didn’t miss any. Check for additional questions on the back of the paper, for instance, or other places that you might have missed or not noticed during your initial read-through.

A common question is whether you should skip questions that you can’t answer. It’s not possible to answer that question in a general sense: it depends on the specific test and the teacher’s rules. It may also depend on the value of each individual question, and whether your teacher gives partial credit.

But, if you’re not penalized for a wrong answer or you are penalized for leaving an answer blank, it is probably better to put something down than nothing.

7. Check Your Work

Finally, if you have time left, go back through the test and check your answers. 

Read over short answer and essay questions to check for typos, points you may have missed, or better ways to phrase your answers. If there were multiple components to the question, make sure you answered all of them. Double check your answers on math questions in case you made a small error that impacts the final answer. You don’t want to overthink answers, but a doublecheck can help you find—and correct—obvious mistakes.

Four Ways to Cope with Test-Taking Anxiety

Nearly every student gets nervous before a test at some point, especially if the exam is an important one. If you are lucky, your pre-test nervousness is mild and can be mitigated by these test taking tips. 

A mild case of nerves can even be somewhat beneficial (if uncomfortable); the surge of adrenaline at the root of a nervous feeling can keep you focused and energized.

For some students, however, test taking anxiety—a form of performance anxiety—can be debilitating and overwhelming. This level of anxiety can be extremely difficult to cope with. 

However, there are a few things you can do before and during a test to help cope with more severe stress and anxiety:

1. Take a Meditation or Sitting Stretch Break

Take a minute or two before or even during a test to focus on your breathing, relax tense muscles, do a quick positive visualization, or stretch your limbs. The calming effect can be beneficial and worth a few minutes of test time. 

2. Replace Negative Thoughts with Positive Ones

Learn to recognize when your brain is caught in a cycle of negative thinking and practice turning negative thoughts into positive ones. For example, when you catch yourself saying “I’m going to fail”, force yourself to say “I’m going to succeed” instead. With practice, this can be a powerful technique to break the cycle of negative thinking undermining your confidence.

3. Mistakes are Learning Opportunities

It’s easy to get caught up in worrying about a bad grade. Instead, remind yourself that it’s ok to make mistakes. A wrong answer on a test is an opportunity to understand where you need to fill in a gap in your knowledge or spend some extra time studying. 

4. Seek Professional Help

Test taking anxiety is very real and should be taken seriously. If you find that your anxiety does not respond to these calming tips, it’s time to seek professional help. Your guidance counselor or a therapist may be able to offer long-term strategies for coping with test taking anxiety. Talk with your parents or guardians about finding someone to help you cope.

Following these test taking tips can’t guarantee that you will get an A on your next big test. Only hard work and lots of study time can do that. 

However, these test taking strategies can help you feel more confident and perform better on test day. Tests may be an inevitable part of student life, but with preparation and confidence, you can succeed on them all!

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About the Author

Digital Content Producer

Emerson is a Digital Content Producer at Harvard DCE. She is a graduate of Brandeis University and Yale University and started her career as an international affairs analyst. She is an avid triathlete and has completed three Ironman triathlons, as well as the Boston Marathon.

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How to Tackle Exam Questions

Learn more about how to tackle different kinds of exams and exam questions.

We cover the following topics on exam preparation on this page:

• Quantitative Questions
• Multiple Choice Questions
• Essay Questions

First, Let’s Think About De-Coding Different Types of Exam Questions

It’s helpful to understand the kinds of question that are asked on a exam, because the response you need to come up with depends on the type of question. Knowing about different types of exam questions can help you activate appropriate strategies for formulating answers and reduce exam-taking anxiety.

Exam questions generally fall into one of three categories: 1

“Green Light”

• Go right ahead!
• These are factual questions, and the answers are straight-forward. You either know the answer or you don’t; it’s right there in your head or it’s not.
• Some green light questions can be very difficult, and your ability to recall details is often tested with this typeof question.
• Study for this type of question by using recitation, making flash cards, quizzing yourself or a study partner, etc.
• If you don’t know the answer to a green light question right away, circle it and move on; often the answer will pop into your head later on during the exam.

“Yellow Light”

• These questions are more detailed than green light questions, but are based on the same idea: you either know the answer or you don’t.
• Often you’ll have to put multiple or “green light” details together.
• Similar strategies work for yellow and green questions, but with yellow light questions you’ll need to recall many ideas, concepts, formulas, etc., just to answer one question.

• These questions ask you to make inferences or apply your knowledge to new situations, which is sometimes called “critical thinking”.
• You need to know the material being covered to answer these questions at the “green light” level, but the exam question is not asking you to simply regurgitate it. You will need to take what you know and use it in ways you have not yet used it.
• This type of question sometimes flummoxes students, because they are surprised to they are being asked a question that wasn’t exactly covered in class. Remember that with red light questions you are not supposed to already know the answer. You have to come up with the answer yourself, it is not already in your head. (You will need to know the basic information, though, to be able to answer this type of question.)
• Red light questions are asked more frequently in college than in high school.
• To study for red light questions, make diagrams or concept maps that link ideas or topics from the course together. Think about how what you’re learning relates to what you’ve learned in other classes. Sit down with friends or classmates and talk about how one might use information from the class in a job setting.

See this link for a pdf of  Decoding exam questions.

How to Tackle: Problem-Solving and Quantitative Questions

Study for problem-based exams by practicing (new!) problems

As you work on the problems, remember:

• DO let yourself be stuck.* (yes, we mean that!)
• DON’T sneak a peak at the answer if you get stuck. (keep trying!)
• Check your answer only after you’ve put something–anything–down. Think partial credit, which is better than no credit if you freeze when you get stuck on hard problems on the test.

* You need to get your “stuck” muscles stronger so you know what to do on tests when you feel stuck.

Watch: LSC’s Mike Chen Shares “The Key to Problem-Solving Tests”

Taking problem-based exams

1. Understand the problem: Determine what you are supposed to find, what you need to find it, and what the unknown is (and if there is extra information). Consider whether drawing a sketch will help. Also – note each part of the question. Not answering each part is an easy way to lose points.

2. Determine a way to solve the problem: Write down all that is given or known. Draw a sketch when appropriate to show relations. Write down all relevant formulas.

3. Carry out the procedure you have devised: For numerical problems, try and estimate an answer first. This will help you to check your work later. Neat, careful work keeps you from making mistakes, and allows you to find them when you do make them (show your units!!). Additionally, when the instructor can see your work clearly, he or she may give you partial credit for what you do know, even if your ultimate answer is incorrect.

4. Check your Answers: This requires the same quality of thought originally used to solve the problem. Is your answer what you thought it would be in your original estimate? Is it a quantity that makes sense? Is your answer in the correct units? If your answer does not seem reasonable, rework the problem.

How to Tackle: Multiple Choice Questions

1. Read the stem: First, read the stem and make sure you understand what it is getting at. Look out for double negatives or other twists in wording before you consider the answer.

2. Try to come up with the correct answer: Before you look at the answer choices, try to come up with the correct answer. This will help you to rule out choices that are similar to the correct answer. Now read and consider each option carefully.

3. Look for clues in the stem: Look for clues in the stem that suggest the correct answer or rule out any choices. For example, if the stem indicates that the answer is plural you can rule out any answers that are singular. The basic rule is: the correct answer must make sense grammatically with the stem. Options which fail this exam can be ruled out.

4. Cross off any options you know are incorrect: As you rule out options cross them off with your pencil. This will help you focus on the remaining choices and eliminates the chance of returning to an item and selecting an option you had already eliminated.

5. Come back to items you were unsure of: Put a mark next to any questions you are unsure of. If you complete the entire exam with time to spare, review these questions – you will often get clues (or even answers) from other questions.

Take a look at some additional information on difficult “ Multiple Choice Tests ” (opens a PDF).

How to Tackle: Essay Questions

The best way to  prepare  for essay tests is to practice writing essays.

• Anticipate questions : Make outlines of possible essay topics using your course materials so you know you’ve got a good grasp of what might be on the test. Then recreate your outlines from memory (unless it’s an open-notes test).
• Practice writing  at least one full essay; be mindful of the time you spend practicing and think about how much time you will have during the exam. It is also important to think about  how  you are organizing the information you are including in your essay — for example, if you are asked to compare and contrast two theories as they relate to an issue, you might want to define each of them, describe the issue, and then compare and contrast them.
• If your exam is closed book,  memorize key events, facts, and names  that you will need to support your argument. If it is open-notes, then make sure you develop good outlines.

When you are  taking  essay tests:

• Manage your time  well. As with all exams, if there are multiple essay questions, be sure to look at them all at the beginning (taking note of the points each is worth), and prioritize the order you answer the questions.
• Read the directions  carefully. Ask yourself honestly: are you answering the  actual  question on the test, or the question you  want  to be on the test?  (tip: instructors know when you aren’t really answering the exact question, so make sure you are addressing the actual question and don’t just write random information that is unrelated to the question.)
• Before you write the essay,  decide on your argument  and  quickly list your supporting evidence  (it is ok to do a brain dump of all the important information that you want to include so that you have it handy when you begin writing).
• Make a quick outline  of what you are going to write to organize your thoughts and arguments.
• Write! And, make your point right away – you don’t want to get to the end of a timed essay test with your amazing argument still unmade!
• If you have time, go back and quickly  proof-read  your essay for errors.

You might want to take a look at some “ Words to Watch for in an Essay ” (opens a PDF).

References:

1 Taffy E. Raphael, Teaching Question Answer Relationships, Revisited, The Reading Teacher, Vol. 39, No. 6 (Feb., 1986), pp. 516-522.

Ellis, D. (1998). Becoming a Master Student. Houghton Mifflin: Boston

Essay Exams

What this handout is about.

At some time in your undergraduate career, you’re going to have to write an essay exam. This thought can inspire a fair amount of fear: we struggle enough with essays when they aren’t timed events based on unknown questions. The goal of this handout is to give you some easy and effective strategies that will help you take control of the situation and do your best.

Why do instructors give essay exams?

Essay exams are a useful tool for finding out if you can sort through a large body of information, figure out what is important, and explain why it is important. Essay exams challenge you to come up with key course ideas and put them in your own words and to use the interpretive or analytical skills you’ve practiced in the course. Instructors want to see whether:

• You understand concepts that provide the basis for the course
• You can use those concepts to interpret specific materials
• You can make connections, see relationships, draw comparisons and contrasts
• You can synthesize diverse information in support of an original assertion
• You can justify your own evaluations based on appropriate criteria
• You can argue your own opinions with convincing evidence
• You can think critically and analytically about a subject

What essay questions require

Exam questions can reach pretty far into the course materials, so you cannot hope to do well on them if you do not keep up with the readings and assignments from the beginning of the course. The most successful essay exam takers are prepared for anything reasonable, and they probably have some intelligent guesses about the content of the exam before they take it. How can you be a prepared exam taker? Try some of the following suggestions during the semester:

• Do the reading as the syllabus dictates; keeping up with the reading while the related concepts are being discussed in class saves you double the effort later.
• Go to lectures (and put away your phone, the newspaper, and that crossword puzzle!).
• Take careful notes that you’ll understand months later. If this is not your strong suit or the conventions for a particular discipline are different from what you are used to, ask your TA or the Learning Center for advice.
• Participate in your discussion sections; this will help you absorb the material better so you don’t have to study as hard.
• Organize small study groups with classmates to explore and review course materials throughout the semester. Others will catch things you might miss even when paying attention. This is not cheating. As long as what you write on the essay is your own work, formulating ideas and sharing notes is okay. In fact, it is a big part of the learning process.
• As an exam approaches, find out what you can about the form it will take. This will help you forecast the questions that will be on the exam, and prepare for them.

These suggestions will save you lots of time and misery later. Remember that you can’t cram weeks of information into a single day or night of study. So why put yourself in that position?

Now let’s focus on studying for the exam. You’ll notice the following suggestions are all based on organizing your study materials into manageable chunks of related material. If you have a plan of attack, you’ll feel more confident and your answers will be more clear. Here are some tips: 

• Don’t just memorize aimlessly; clarify the important issues of the course and use these issues to focus your understanding of specific facts and particular readings.
• Try to organize and prioritize the information into a thematic pattern. Look at what you’ve studied and find a way to put things into related groups. Find the fundamental ideas that have been emphasized throughout the course and organize your notes into broad categories. Think about how different categories relate to each other.
• Find out what you don’t know, but need to know, by making up test questions and trying to answer them. Studying in groups helps as well.

Taking the exam

Read the exam carefully.

• If you are given the entire exam at once and can determine your approach on your own, read the entire exam before you get started.
• Look at how many points each part earns you, and find hints for how long your answers should be.
• Figure out how much time you have and how best to use it. Write down the actual clock time that you expect to take in each section, and stick to it. This will help you avoid spending all your time on only one section. One strategy is to divide the available time according to percentage worth of the question. You don’t want to spend half of your time on something that is only worth one tenth of the total points.
• As you read, make tentative choices of the questions you will answer (if you have a choice). Don’t just answer the first essay question you encounter. Instead, read through all of the options. Jot down really brief ideas for each question before deciding.
• Remember that the easiest-looking question is not always as easy as it looks. Focus your attention on questions for which you can explain your answer most thoroughly, rather than settle on questions where you know the answer but can’t say why.

Analyze the questions

• Decide what you are being asked to do. If you skim the question to find the main “topic” and then rush to grasp any related ideas you can recall, you may become flustered, lose concentration, and even go blank. Try looking closely at what the question is directing you to do, and try to understand the sort of writing that will be required.
• Focus on what you do know about the question, not on what you don’t.
• Look at the active verbs in the assignment—they tell you what you should be doing. We’ve included some of these below, with some suggestions on what they might mean. (For help with this sort of detective work, see the Writing Center handout titled Reading Assignments.)

Information words, such as who, what, when, where, how, and why ask you to demonstrate what you know about the subject. Information words may include:

• define—give the subject’s meaning (according to someone or something). Sometimes you have to give more than one view on the subject’s meaning.
• explain why/how—give reasons why or examples of how something happened.
• illustrate—give descriptive examples of the subject and show how each is connected with the subject.
• summarize—briefly cover the important ideas you learned about the subject.
• trace—outline how something has changed or developed from an earlier time to its current form.
• research—gather material from outside sources about the subject, often with the implication or requirement that you will analyze what you’ve found.

Relation words ask you to demonstrate how things are connected. Relation words may include:

• compare—show how two or more things are similar (and, sometimes, different).
• contrast—show how two or more things are dissimilar.
• apply—use details that you’ve been given to demonstrate how an idea, theory, or concept works in a particular situation.
• cause—show how one event or series of events made something else happen.
• relate—show or describe the connections between things.

Interpretation words ask you to defend ideas of your own about the subject. Don’t see these words as requesting opinion alone (unless the assignment specifically says so), but as requiring opinion that is supported by concrete evidence. Remember examples, principles, definitions, or concepts from class or research and use them in your interpretation. Interpretation words may include:

• prove, justify—give reasons or examples to demonstrate how or why something is the truth.
• evaluate, respond, assess—state your opinion of the subject as good, bad, or some combination of the two, with examples and reasons (you may want to compare your subject to something else).
• support—give reasons or evidence for something you believe (be sure to state clearly what it is that you believe).
• synthesize—put two or more things together that haven’t been put together before; don’t just summarize one and then the other, and say that they are similar or different—you must provide a reason for putting them together (as opposed to compare and contrast—see above).
• analyze—look closely at the components of something to figure out how it works, what it might mean, or why it is important.
• argue—take a side and defend it (with proof) against the other side.

Plan your answers

Think about your time again. How much planning time you should take depends on how much time you have for each question and how many points each question is worth. Here are some general guidelines: 

• For short-answer definitions and identifications, just take a few seconds. Skip over any you don’t recognize fairly quickly, and come back to them when another question jogs your memory.
• For answers that require a paragraph or two, jot down several important ideas or specific examples that help to focus your thoughts.
• For longer answers, you will need to develop a much more definite strategy of organization. You only have time for one draft, so allow a reasonable amount of time—as much as a quarter of the time you’ve allotted for the question—for making notes, determining a thesis, and developing an outline.
• For questions with several parts (different requests or directions, a sequence of questions), make a list of the parts so that you do not miss or minimize one part. One way to be sure you answer them all is to number them in the question and in your outline.
• You may have to try two or three outlines or clusters before you hit on a workable plan. But be realistic—you want a plan you can develop within the limited time allotted for your answer. Your outline will have to be selective—not everything you know, but what you know that you can state clearly and keep to the point in the time available.

Again, focus on what you do know about the question, not on what you don’t.

Writing your answers

As with planning, your strategy for writing depends on the length of your answer:

• For short identifications and definitions, it is usually best to start with a general identifying statement and then move on to describe specific applications or explanations. Two sentences will almost always suffice, but make sure they are complete sentences. Find out whether the instructor wants definition alone, or definition and significance. Why is the identification term or object important?
• For longer answers, begin by stating your forecasting statement or thesis clearly and explicitly. Strive for focus, simplicity, and clarity. In stating your point and developing your answers, you may want to use important course vocabulary words from the question. For example, if the question is, “How does wisteria function as a representation of memory in Faulkner’s Absalom, Absalom?” you may want to use the words wisteria, representation, memory, and Faulkner) in your thesis statement and answer. Use these important words or concepts throughout the answer.
• If you have devised a promising outline for your answer, then you will be able to forecast your overall plan and its subpoints in your opening sentence. Forecasting impresses readers and has the very practical advantage of making your answer easier to read. Also, if you don’t finish writing, it tells your reader what you would have said if you had finished (and may get you partial points).
• You might want to use briefer paragraphs than you ordinarily do and signal clear relations between paragraphs with transition phrases or sentences.
• As you move ahead with the writing, you may think of new subpoints or ideas to include in the essay. Stop briefly to make a note of these on your original outline. If they are most appropriately inserted in a section you’ve already written, write them neatly in the margin, at the top of the page, or on the last page, with arrows or marks to alert the reader to where they fit in your answer. Be as neat and clear as possible.
• Don’t pad your answer with irrelevancies and repetitions just to fill up space. Within the time available, write a comprehensive, specific answer.
• Watch the clock carefully to ensure that you do not spend too much time on one answer. You must be realistic about the time constraints of an essay exam. If you write one dazzling answer on an exam with three equally-weighted required questions, you earn only 33 points—not enough to pass at most colleges. This may seem unfair, but keep in mind that instructors plan exams to be reasonably comprehensive. They want you to write about the course materials in two or three or more ways, not just one way. Hint: if you finish a half-hour essay in 10 minutes, you may need to develop some of your ideas more fully.
• If you run out of time when you are writing an answer, jot down the remaining main ideas from your outline, just to show that you know the material and with more time could have continued your exposition.
• Double-space to leave room for additions, and strike through errors or changes with one straight line (avoid erasing or scribbling over). Keep things as clean as possible. You never know what will earn you partial credit.
• Write legibly and proofread. Remember that your instructor will likely be reading a large pile of exams. The more difficult they are to read, the more exasperated the instructor might become. Your instructor also cannot give you credit for what they cannot understand. A few minutes of careful proofreading can improve your grade.

Perhaps the most important thing to keep in mind in writing essay exams is that you have a limited amount of time and space in which to get across the knowledge you have acquired and your ability to use it. Essay exams are not the place to be subtle or vague. It’s okay to have an obvious structure, even the five-paragraph essay format you may have been taught in high school. Introduce your main idea, have several paragraphs of support—each with a single point defended by specific examples, and conclude with a restatement of your main point and its significance.

Some physiological tips

Just think—we expect athletes to practice constantly and use everything in their abilities and situations in order to achieve success. Yet, somehow many students are convinced that one day’s worth of studying, no sleep, and some well-placed compliments (“Gee, Dr. So-and-so, I really enjoyed your last lecture”) are good preparation for a test. Essay exams are like any other testing situation in life: you’ll do best if you are prepared for what is expected of you, have practiced doing it before, and have arrived in the best shape to do it. You may not want to believe this, but it’s true: a good night’s sleep and a relaxed mind and body can do as much or more for you as any last-minute cram session. Colleges abound with tales of woe about students who slept through exams because they stayed up all night, wrote an essay on the wrong topic, forgot everything they studied, or freaked out in the exam and hyperventilated. If you are rested, breathing normally, and have brought along some healthy, energy-boosting snacks that you can eat or drink quietly, you are in a much better position to do a good job on the test. You aren’t going to write a good essay on something you figured out at 4 a.m. that morning. If you prepare yourself well throughout the semester, you don’t risk your whole grade on an overloaded, undernourished brain.

If for some reason you get yourself into this situation, take a minute every once in a while during the test to breathe deeply, stretch, and clear your brain. You need to be especially aware of the likelihood of errors, so check your essays thoroughly before you hand them in to make sure they answer the right questions and don’t have big oversights or mistakes (like saying “Hitler” when you really mean “Churchill”).

If you tend to go blank during exams, try studying in the same classroom in which the test will be given. Some research suggests that people attach ideas to their surroundings, so it might jog your memory to see the same things you were looking at while you studied.

Try good luck charms. Bring in something you associate with success or the support of your loved ones, and use it as a psychological boost.

Take all of the time you’ve been allotted. Reread, rework, and rethink your answers if you have extra time at the end, rather than giving up and handing the exam in the minute you’ve written your last sentence. Use every advantage you are given.

Remember that instructors do not want to see you trip up—they want to see you do well. With this in mind, try to relax and just do the best you can. The more you panic, the more mistakes you are liable to make. Put the test in perspective: will you die from a poor performance? Will you lose all of your friends? Will your entire future be destroyed? Remember: it’s just a test.

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Axelrod, Rise B., and Charles R. Cooper. 2016. The St. Martin’s Guide to Writing , 11th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Fowler, Ramsay H., and Jane E. Aaron. 2016. The Little, Brown Handbook , 13th ed. Boston: Pearson.

Gefvert, Constance J. 1988. The Confident Writer: A Norton Handbook , 2nd ed. New York: W.W. Norton and Company.

Kirszner, Laurie G. 1988. Writing: A College Rhetoric , 2nd ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston.

Lunsford, Andrea A. 2015. The St. Martin’s Handbook , 8th ed. Boston: Bedford/St Martin’s.

Woodman, Leonara, and Thomas P. Adler. 1988. The Writer’s Choices , 2nd ed. Northbrook, Illinois: Scott Foresman.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Essay Test Preparation Tips and Strategies

Essay test questions can be very intimidating, but they can also be very rewarding. Unlike other types of exams (i.e., multiple choice, true or false, etc.) essay tests allow you develop an answer based on your understanding or knowledge.

If you’ve studied all semester, understand the course concepts, and have reviewed prior to the test, the following strategies can help you improve your performance on essay tests and exams.

Strategies to Help You Improve Your Performance on Essay Tests and Exams

Read the directions.

Reading the directions seems so obvious. Unfortunately, it’s still one of the biggest test taking mistakes students make. Before answering an essay question, thoroughly read the instructions. Do not jump to the answer without being sure of what exactly the question is asking. In many cases, the teacher is looking for specific types of responses. Never assume you know what is being asked, or what is required, until you’ve read the entire question.

Ask for clarification

Read essay questions in their entirety before preparing an answer. If the instructions are unclear, or you simply don’t understand a question, ask the teacher for clarification. Chances are if you’re confused so is someone else. Never be scared to ask for clarification from your teacher or instructor.

Provide detail

Provide as many details and specific examples when answering an essay question as you can. Teachers are usually looking for very specific responses to see whether or not you’ve learned the material. The more relevant detail you provide, the higher grade is likely to be. However, only include correct, accurate and relevant information. Including irrelevant “filler” that doesn’t support your answer will likely lower your grade.

Budget your time

Manage your time wisely when answering essay questions so you are able answer all the questions, not just the easy or hard ones. If you finish your test before time is up, go back and review your answers and provide additional details.

We recommend answering those essay questions you’re most familiar with first and then tackling more challenging questions after. It’s also not uncommon on essay tests for some questions to be worth more than others. When budgeting your time, make sure to allocate more time to those questions that are worth the most.

Follow the instructions

When a question is only requiring facts, be sure to avoid sharing opinions. Only provide the information the instructions request. It’s important to provide an answer that matches the type of essay question being asked. You’ll find a list of common types of essay questions at the bottom of this page.

In your answers, get to the point and be very clear. It is generally best to be as concise as possible. If you provide numerous facts or details, be sure they’re related to the question. A typical essay answer should be between 200 and 800 words (2-8 paragraphs) but more isn’t necessarily better. Focus on substance over quantity.

Write clearly and legibly

Be sure your essays are legible and easy to understand. If a teacher has a difficult time reading or understanding what you’ve written, you could receive a lower score.

Get organized

Organize your thoughts before answering your essay question. We even recommend developing a short outline before preparing your answer. This strategy will help you save time and keep your essay organized. Organizing your thoughts and preparing a short outline will allow you to write more clearly and concisely.

Get to the point – Focus on substance

Only spend time answering the question and keep your essays focused. An overly long introduction and conclusion can be unnecessary. If your essay does not thoroughly answer the question and provide substance, a well developed introduction or conclusion will do you no good.

Use paragraphs to separate ideas

When developing your essay, keep main ideas and other important details separated with paragraphs. An essay response should have three parts: the introduction; the body; and the conclusion. The introduction is typically one paragraph, as is the conclusion. The body of the essay usually consists of 2 to 6 paragraphs depending on the type of essay and the information being presented.

Go back and review

If time permits, review your answers and make changes if necessary. Make sure you employed correct grammar and that your essays are well written. It’s not uncommon to make silly mistakes your first time through your essay. Reviewing your work is always a good idea.

Approximate

When you are unsure of specific dates, just approximate dates. For example, if you know an event occurred sometime during the 1820’s, then just write, “in the early 1800’s.”

Common Question Types on Essay Exams

Being able to identify and becoming familiar with the most common types of essay test questions is key to improving performance on essay exams. The following are 5 of the most common question types you’ll find on essay exams.

1. Identify

Identify essay questions ask for short, concise answers and typically do not require a fully developed essay.

• Ask yourself: “What is the idea or concept in question?”, “What are the main characteristics?”, “What does this mean?”
• Keywords to look for: Summarize, List, Describe, Define, Enumerate, State
• Example question: “Define what is meant by ‘separation of church and state.'”

Explain essay questions require a full-length essay with a fully developed response that provides ample supporting detail.

• Ask yourself: “What are the main points?”, “Why is this the case?”
• Keywords to look for: Discuss, Explain, Analyze, Illustrate
• Example question: “Discuss the differences between the political views of democrats and republicans. Use specific examples from each party’s 2017 presidential campaign to argue which views are more in line with U.S. national interests.”

Compare essay questions require an analysis in essay form which focuses on similarities, differences, and connections between specific ideas or concepts.

• Ask yourself: “What are the main concepts or ideas?”, “What are the similarities?”, “What are the differences?”
• Keywords to look for: Compare, Contrast, Relate
• Example question: “Compare the value of attending a community college to the value of attending a 4-year university. Which would you rather attend?”

Argue essay questions require you to form an opinion or take a position on an issue and defend your position against alternative positions using arguments backed by analysis and information.

• Ask yourself: “Is this position correct?”, “Why is this issue true?”
• Keywords to look for: Prove, Justify
• Example question: “Argue whether robotics will replace blue collar manufacturing jobs in the next ten years.”

Assess essay questions involve assessing an issue, idea or question by describing acceptable criteria and defending a position/judgment on the issue.

• Ask yourself: “What is the main idea/issue and what does it mean?”, “Why is the issue important?”, “What are its strengths?”, “What are the weaknesses?”
• Keywords to look for: Evaluate, Criticize, Evaluate, Interpret
• Example question: “With respect to U.S. national security, evaluate the benefit of constructing a wall along the southern border of the United States of America.”

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College Success Guide: Test Taking Strategies

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Test Taking Strategies

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Strategies For Specific Question Types

You can gain even more confidence in your test-taking abilities by understanding the different kinds of questions an instructor may ask and apply the following proven strategies for answering them. Most instructors will likely use various conventional types of questions. Here are some tips for handling the most common types. 

• If there are multiple right answers, does the instructor expect you to choose just one, or do you need to mark all correct options?
• Then consider  all  the options.
• Eliminate first the options that are clearly incorrect.
• Compare the remaining answers with your own answer before choosing one and marking your paper.
• If you are stuck, treat the remaining answers as True/Fale statements. This often helps pick the correct answer.
• Absolute words like “never,” “always,” “every,” or “none” are rarely found in a correct option.
• Less absolute words like “usually,” “often,” or “rarely” are regularly found in correct options.
• Be on the lookout for the word “not” in the stem phrase and in the answer choice options; it is an easy word to miss if you are reading too quickly, but it completely changes the meaning of the possible statements.
• There are often clues in later questions. Or, you may recall information that you had forgotten
• Do not leave any questions blank, unless there is a penalty for wrong answers (this is often on standardized tests like the SAT and LSAT but rarely on college tests.)

**Used from Creative Commons:  Chapter 6: Preparing for and Taking Tests . in College Success.  Authored by:  Anonymous.  Provided by:  University of Minnesota.  Located at :  http://www.oercommons.org/courses/college-success/view .  License :  CC BY-NC-SA-4.0

• View the entire Test Taking Strategies lesson here
• Most of the tips for multiple-choice questions apply here as well.
• Be particularly aware of the words “never,” “always,” “every,” “none,” and “not” because they can determine the correct answer.
• Answer the questions that are obvious to you first. Then go back to statements that require more thought.
• If the question is stated in the positive, restate it to yourself in the negative by adding the word “not” or “never.” Does the new statement sound truer or more false?
• If you still are unsure whether a statement is true or false and must guess, choose “true” because most tests include more true statements than false (but don’t guess if a wrong answer penalizes you more than one left blank).
• Entire Lesson on Test Taking Strategies
• Start by looking at the two columns to be matched. Is there an equal number of items in both columns? If they are not equal, do you have to match some items in the shorter column to two or more items in the longer column, or can you leave some items unmatched? Read the directions to be sure.
• If one column has a series of single words to be matched to phrases in the other column, read all the phrases first, then all the single words before trying to make any matches. Now go back and read each phrase and find the word that best suits the phrase.
• If both columns have single words to be matched, look to cut down the number of potential matches by grouping them by parts of speech (nouns with nouns, verbs with verbs, etc.).
• As always, start by making the matches that are obvious to you, and then work on the ones that require more thought. Mark off all items you have already used so you can easily see which words or phrases still remain to be matched.
• Short answer questions are designed for you to recall and provide some very  specific  information (unlike essay questions, which also ask you to apply critical thinking to that information). When you read the question, ask yourself what exactly the instructor wants to know. Keep your answers short and  specific .
• Essay questions are used by instructors to evaluate your thinking and reasoning applied to the material covered in a course. Good essay answers are based on  your  thoughts, supported by examples from classes and reading assignments.
• Careful planning is critical to answering essay questions effectively. Note how many essay questions you have to answer and how difficult each question seems. Then allocate your time accordingly.
• Watch for words that describe the instructor’s expectations for your response (see the table below.)
• Use other parts of the exam, like multiple choice, to help you recall vocabulary or specific information.
• Jot down the specific information you might want to use, such as names, dates, and places.
• For example, rather than writing, “In our study of the Civil War, it is helpful to consider the many facets that lead to conflict, especially the economic factors that help explain this important turning point in our nation’s history,” write a more direct and concise statement like this: “Economic factors help explain the start of the Civil War.”
• Allow time to proofread your essay. You want your instructor to want to read your essay, not dread it.
• Remember that grading essays is are largely subjective, and a favorable impression can lead to more favorable grading.
• Be sure to answer all parts of the question. Essay questions often have more than one part. Remember, too, that essay questions often have multiple acceptable answers.

Resources in SPC Libraries

• This Is a Test...This Is Only a Test: Test-Taking Techniques Call Number: eVideo available online

More TIps for Success

More tips for success.

• Schedule a consistent study and review time for each course at least once a week , in addition to your class and assignment time. Keep to that schedule as rigorously as you do your class schedule. Use your study time to go through the steps outlined earlier; this is not meant to be a substitute for your assignment time.
• Get yourself in the right space.  Choose to study in a quiet, well-lit space. Your chair should be comfortable but provide good support. Remember that libraries were designed for reading and should be your first option.
• Minimize distractions.  Turn off your cell phone and get away from Facebook, television, other nearby activities, and chatty friends or roommates. All of these can cut into the effectiveness of your study efforts. Multitasking and studying don’t mix.
• If you will be studying for a long time, take short breaks at least once an hour.  Get up, stretch, breathe deeply, and then get back to work. (If you keep up with your daily assignments and schedule weekly review sessions for yourself—and keep them—there should be almost no need for long study sessions.)
• << Previous: Time Management
• Next: Find Tutoring Help On Campus or Online >>
• Last Updated: Jan 2, 2024 11:51 AM
• URL: https://spcollege.libguides.com/studyskills

Daniel Wong

20 Test-Taking Strategies and Tips for Anxious Students

Updated on July 14, 2021 By Daniel Wong 6 Comments

Let’s imagine the ideal morning of your next exam for a moment.

It’s early when your alarm goes off. You stretch as the sun peeks through your window. Usually, you’d hit the snooze button a few times, but today you don’t. You feel well-rested and ready to conquer the day.

As you climb out of bed, you realise there’s no swarm of butterflies fluttering about in your stomach.

Instead, you feel successful and resilient . You’re calm as you eat a leisurely breakfast, chat with your parents, and head out the door. Maybe you’re not excited about the big exam, but you’re not worried about it, either.

Now you’re seated at your desk with the test in front of you.

You feel prepared. You know which test-taking skills to use if you get stuck on a question. Later, when you submit your exam, you feel fantastic because you know you did your best.

Sounds like an incredible morning, right?

But if you’re a nervous test taker, this dream scenario might sound like exactly that: a dream.

After speaking to and working with more than 20,000 students, I’m here to tell you this…

With the right tips, you can perform better on exams and overcome test anxiety, too.

Ready to learn more? Let’s explore my top test-taking strategies so you can ace your next exam.

FREE  QUICK ACTION GUIDE:  

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12 Guaranteed Ways for Students to Improve Focus and Reduce Procrastination .  

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How to improve your test-taking skills

If you want to learn how to improve your test-taking skills, start by studying the different question styles.

I go in-depth on this in  The Complete Guide to Taking Tests and Exams — and reveal my top clues for choosing the correct response when you don’t know the answer.

In this article, let’s look at some tips for popular types of test questions:

Reading comprehension test-taking strategies

1. understand story structure.

Now it’s on to the next question. You can’t recall that answer either, so you head back to the start of the passage and read until you find it, too.

Third question … same process.

Here’s the problem with this approach…

You risk running out of time by continually re-reading the passage.

Save valuable test-taking energy by knowing where to look for the answers you need.

Reading sections typically have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

The opening sets up the story. Look here for questions about ‘when’ or ‘where’. The middle is where there’s a conflict or problem. Search here for more specific descriptions and details. The end of the passage resolves the issue or summarises the story.

2. Take notes as you read

Don’t be afraid to mark up your paper. Underline or circle key information. Recap paragraphs by jotting down a few words in the margin.

It’s great to understand the general framework of a reading passage. It’s even better if you’ve already made a note that immediately directs you to the answer.

Essay test-taking strategies

3. make an outline.

I know it’s tempting to immediately put pen to paper and let your thoughts flow — especially if you’re short on time.

But before you start your essay, take a few moments to write an outline. Even a few bullet points will keep your response organised.

4. Lead with a bang!

You’ll make a lasting impression with these test-taking strategies. And, if you run out of time, you’ll rest easy knowing that at least you wrote down your best ideas.

5. Be persuasive

With a true-false type of question, your answer is either right or wrong. But essay questions are less strict. Many teachers will give partial credit if you explain your thoughts clearly.

So make a statement and back it up with compelling evidence. Don’t forget to revisit your thesis in your conclusion.

Multiple choice test-taking strategies

6. read all the options in detail.

Maybe you’re 99.9% confident that A is the correct option. Still, take a moment to review all the options. You’ll avoid silly mistakes and submit your exam with confidence.

7. Double-check your bubble sheet/scantron

You’re shading in your second-to-last answer when you realise you skipped line 11 on your bubble sheet/scantron — and now all your responses are mismatched.

With only a few minutes left, you frantically start erasing everything and shading the answers again.

Avoid this stressful mistake. Always mark your chosen answer in both your test booklet and your bubble sheet/scantron. Take the extra second to ensure your answers line up after every question.

You’ve worked hard for this — don’t let an avoidable error get in the way of a good grade.

True-false test-taking strategies

8. watch out for negatives.

Cannot. Would not. Did not. 

Negative words are often misleading. You might mistake the question for its opposite meaning if you answer too quickly. Read these questions extra carefully.

9. Take a guess!

Don’t leave a question blank. This goes for any test question, but especially true-false questions since your chances of guessing correctly are 50/50.

If the clock is ticking and you don’t have time to read the remaining questions, answer ‘true’. Studies show that ‘true’ is the correct answer more than half the time.

More test-taking tips

Now that we’ve reviewed some tips for tackling different types of questions, here are some of my proven test-taking tips.

Preparing for the test

I don’t believe in last-minute study hacks. That’s why many of my top test-taking strategies are about learning to become a more effective student. Let’s get started.

10. Practise confidence

Confidence is a skill — not a feeling that comes and goes.

Confident test-takers embrace the process. They don’t get fixated on good grades.

Instead, confident test takers know that mistakes are okay, so long as they learn from them. The goal is progress, not perfection.

You might be thinking: “That sounds great, but how do I become more confident?”

Try an affirmation.

An affirmation is a positive statement about yourself that you say frequently.

“I am hardworking.”

“I am capable of getting good grades.”

“I am disciplined.”

Affirmations aren’t wishful thinking. Studies show that repeating positive statements can calm nerves, increase confidence, and improve your chances of a positive outcome.

When you feel the anxiety starting to rise, repeat your affirmation. Take slow, deep breaths.

Confidence is like any other skill — it takes practice. Give yourself time to harness your test-taking confidence, and you will see the rewards.

11. Study the right way

If you want to get good grades, you need to understand the material.

Those last-minute cramming sessions? Research says they don’t work.

Instead, set up a study schedule. Adequate planning will help you stay focused, manage your time wisely, and eliminate distractions.

Remember, just like when you’re learning how to get good grades , it’s about studying more effectively, not studying harder.

If you need help with your study schedule and planning, check out my Straight-A Student Weekly Checklist .

12. Get up and move

It’s time to get moving.

Just as I pointed out in my article on time-management tips for students , your brain loves exercise. Twenty minutes of activity is all it takes to improve brain functions like memory, attention span, and thinking.

Regular exercise also helps you manage stress and anxiety, which is an essential part of maintaining your mental health .

Researchers are still learning why, but one theory is that physical activity releases dopamine and serotonin, which improve your mood.

Make exercise a part of your pre-exam routine. Before the exam, take a short brisk walk or do some other form of light exercise.

Before the start of the test

It’s the day of your big exam. You’ve used the tips above to prepare. You’re visualising success and repeating your affirmations. That’s great!

Keep it going with these test-taking strategies:

13. Create a morning routine

We all have days when we’re a bit frazzled — just don’t let that morning be on test day.

A morning routine will help. Practise it every day, not just before exams. Your routine might include:

• Eating a healthy breakfast
• Doing light exercise
• Using the restroom before class
• Arriving at school 15 minutes early

What’s important is that your morning routine works for you.

14. Create an exam checklist

Like a morning routine, your exam checklist will ensure you arrive feeling prepared for your exam, without any last-minute stress.

Make a list of everything you need to bring with you for the test. For example, your list might look like this:

• List of equations
• Water bottle

15. Avoid excessive caffeine

If you regularly consume caffeine, you shouldn’t change your routine at the last minute. But if you’re chugging that extra cup of coffee because you think it will help you focus, you might want to rethink that.

Excessive caffeine can cause anxiety , headaches, energy slumps, and jitters — all of which negatively affect your mental clarity.

Avoid consuming too much caffeine in the days leading up to your exam, too. It might help you get through your study sessions, but it can impact your sleep and energy levels come test day.

During the test

The moment is here. You’re seated at your desk, and you’re waiting for the teacher to distribute the exam papers.

Remember these additional test-taking strategies:

16. Listen to the instructions

It’s easy to zone out when your teacher is going over the instructions. After all, you’ve taken dozens or even hundreds of tests before. You know the drill.

Still, listen carefully to your teacher. You don’t want to lose points for not following the instructions. Plus, your teacher might reveal a clue or two that could be helpful during the test.

17. Stay focused — but take breaks when you need them

Your friend Jenny is already turning in her exam. Henry keeps fidgeting with his pen in the seat next to you. You look out the window and see students headed to soccer practice, which reminds you of everything you need to do before your weekend basketball tournament…

There are countless distractions during any exam, and just as you need to learn how to focus when studying , your job before taking a test is to build your concentration skills. Then, you’ll be able to focus on only your test.

That being said, if your mind wanders, take a quick break.

Check your posture. Get a sip of water. Stretch. Take a couple of deep breaths. It’s better to pause and actively refocus your attention than plough on ahead when you’re distracted.

If you find other thoughts or worries popping into your mind, write them down on a piece of paper. You’ll have plenty of time to come back to these recurring thoughts after the exam.

In The Complete Guide to Taking Tests and Exams , I share more tips on how to best manage your time during a test — including my number one trick to ensure you finish your exam on time.

18. Concentrate on what you know

That’s okay.

There are test-taking strategies you can use to make an educated guess and improve your odds of answering correctly. (More on that below.)

Maintain your confidence. Concentrate on what you do know.

Skip the questions you’re unsure of. You can always come back to them later and make an educated guess.

19. Know that your teacher wants you to do well

Even that super strict teacher who loves assigning trick questions and long essays?

Yes, even your most challenging teacher wants you to succeed.

Knowing that, if you have a question, don’t be afraid to ask!

Your teacher can’t give you the answer, but they might be able to clarify the instructions. And if you have a question, someone else probably does, too.

20. Avoid talking about the exam after the exam

The bell rings. You turn in your exam and find your three closest friends. The polling begins.

What did you answer for Question 10?

What did you write about for that challenging essay question?

I know it’s enticing to learn if you and your classmates chose the same answers. But if your responses vary, it might make you more anxious than relieved.

And if you have other exams later that day or the following day? The unnecessary anxiety can throw off your concentration and performance.

When you prepare well, you submit your exam knowing you did your best — and that’s all that matters.

The ultimate test-taking guide

This article is just a sample of my proven test-taking strategies. They’ll help you to do better on your next exam, so give them a try!

But here’s what you need to know…

The tips I just covered? They’re only an introduction.

Over the years, I’ve discovered the ultimate blueprint for acing exams.

That’s why I put together The Complete Guide to Taking Tests and Exams .

The guide contains more than 90 proven test-taking strategies — and it’s a game-changer for any student who wants to perform better right away. I’m confident that if you apply these tips, your grades will improve by at least 20 to 30%.

Wishing you all the best for your next exam!

July 29, 2021 at 6:50 am

Thanks a lot for the the wonderful and helping test taking strategies.

please assist, I still need studying strategies.

July 29, 2021 at 7:45 am

You’re welcome. I think this article will help too: https://www.daniel-wong.com/2015/08/17/study-smart/

August 18, 2021 at 10:59 am

Thank you for the great advice and tips. Have a blessed day!

August 18, 2021 at 11:51 am

You’re welcome. May you have a blessed day too!

May 16, 2022 at 7:05 am

Hi Daniel read through this article can I know the link so that I can share to my friend who is in education line.

May 16, 2022 at 8:49 pm

Hi Faith, sure — I’m guessing that you’re asking for the URL of this article? If so, the URL is: https://www.daniel-wong.com/2021/07/14/test-taking-strategies/

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

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Top 10 Tips for Taking Essay Tests

Budgeting your time and reading through the whole exam first are among the experts' recommendations.

Some college students are pros at taking short-answer and multiple-choice tests but are at their wits' end when the prof springs an essay test. Some go to incredible lengths to avoid any course that might have essays on the exam. But with dozens of required courses, many in areas such as social sciences and humanities, such a strategy is bound to fail. Instead, take a look at our 10 best tips for acing the essay exam:

1. Survey the landscape. When you first get the test, look over the whole thing. Figure out what the tasks are, paying special attention to how many essays you're asked to write (be sure to note any choices offered) and, most important, how much time you're supposed to devote to each. You'd be amazed at how many students make a mistake about the basic instructions.

2. Budget your time. Craft each essay around the time you have available. Professors who allot one hour expect longer and more detailed essays than ones who ask you to write for 20 minutes. Don't have a one-size-fits-all approach to essay questions. (By the way, it wouldn't hurt to take a working watch to the exam. Not all professors want to track the time for you.)

3. Scan (in your mind) all the resources . Before you start writing your answer, think through what elements of the course might be relevant for your answer. Most students are primed to think first about the lectures that bear on the topic. But if you can bring in materials from the reading or discussion sections, and if they're relevant, your answer is likely to be stronger.

4. Don ' t waste time. Some students begin an essay exam by writing elaborate outlines—so elaborate that they run out of time after writing a sentence or two of the actual answer. If you need to jot down a few notes before you start, that's fine, but you need to spend most of your time writing the answer, not preparing to write it.

Extra Pointer. Another major time waster, in cases where a professor offers a choice of essay topics, is to get far into an essay, then stop and choose another question. It's not uncommon for a professor to see a page—or even several pages—crossed off, followed by an unfinished essay about something else. Ouch.

5. D on ' t survey. If you're asked a specific question, answer that specific question. Don't dump everything you know about a topic into your response. No matter how nervous you are, you need to attend to what's being asked. Professors usually craft their essay questions carefully, so if you compare when you were asked to contrast, or list reasons but don't assess them, it will be noticed when the grading rolls around.

4-Star Tip. If the question has specific subparts or subtasks, it's often best to do them separately, and to "letter" your parts (Part A, Part B, Part C, etc.). That way the grader will be able to see that you've answered each of the parts and assign you the points to which you're entitled.

6. D on ' t introduce. Essay exams are not the time to give lengthy introductions or "setups" to the topic. Usually the time is budgeted tightly, and there's not time for this. Begin your answer in the very first sentence. Nailing the main point down right up front puts your essay on track for an A.

7. D on ' t gesture. Some students think the answer is so obvious—and the professor knows it, after all—that they only need to wave their hands at the answer (rather than wasting all that ink to spell it out). But the prof is looking for you to demonstrate your knowledge and understanding of the material, which can only be done if you take the time to make explicit your points. Be sure your answers can be understood by a reasonably intelligent person, not one who is previously familiar with the material (like the professor).

8. Write quickly and neatly. More detail equals a better grade (usually). Legible handwriting equals a better grade (usually).

9. Keep it real. Answer in simple, clear language. Avoid fillers, and eliminate irrelevant material. When an instructor is reading 70 essays on the same topic, information not related to the topic really stands out like a sore thumb. Some graders just ignore it, but others take off for it.

10. Don ' t be afraid to go back. It's OK to go back to a previous essay to fill in some important point you just thought of. Just draw an arrow to the margin or to the top of the paper and add in your latest brainstorm. In many cases, these later additions tip the scales from a B to an A.

5-Star Tip. If you find yourself running out of time on a question, at least sketch out how you would answer the part you've left out. Usually you will get at least some credit for this and won't have to take the full hit for material left unanswered.

BONUS TIP. One of the most common questions we get asked is what you can do to turn your B essay into an A essay. Though each course is different, here are seven things you might think about to turn a good essay into an excellent one:

• Offer a more nuanced thesis, not the most obvious one.
• Probe the relations between the parts or issues treated in the question.
• Give more examples or illustrations.
• Draw distinctions if they are relevant to the question(s) asked.
• Bring in materials from the readings or the discussion section (if relevant).
• Use the methods, techniques, and analytic tools of the field (like the ones the professor or TA used in the lectures).
• Reach a firm conclusion.

© Copyright 2009 Professors' Guide LLC. All rights reserved

Tags: education , students , academics

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Enter your email to unlock an extra $25 off an sat or act program, by submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., how to study for a test: 10 steps to ace your next test.

We promise your teacher isn’t out to get you. As unpleasant as taking a test can often be, it actually does more than just show your teacher what you know: it can actually help you learn.

Studies have shown that students who are tested regularly actually learn more content and retain it longer than students who have not been tested. Great news for final exams.  Frequent testing has even been shown to help decrease test anxiety.

Not sure how to study for a test? Follow these study tips to make your best grade!

1. Get informed

• textbook chapters and topics the test will cover
• test format

2. Think like your teacher

Your homeworks assignments, quizzes, handouts, daily notes , and classwork are all indicators of what your teacher thinks is important about the information and what might appear on the test.

3. Make your own study aids

When it comes to learning, practice tests work BETTER than simply highlighting or re-reading your notes. So, turn your notes into flashcards or use a flashcard app for memorizing Spanish vocab. Ask your friends to quiz you or write your own practice test.

4. Practice for the inevitable

Outline essays ahead of time. For math tests, do plenty of practice problems similar to ones that you KNOW will appear. Make a list of questions that you think might show up on the test (and then make sure you can answer them!).

Free SAT Practice Tests & Events

Evaluate and improve your SAT score.

5. Study every day

If you have a test in a week, studying a little each day will help you identify tough concepts or weak areas in your knowledge in advance. Can't figure out factoring? Log on to Homework Help and get your questions answered.

6. Cut out the distractions

Distractions make it difficult to pay attention to what you’re doing, which in turn makes it harder to commit facts to memory. Give yourself a leg up by turning off the notifications on your phone, temporarily blocking your favorite websites, or sticking to instrumental music while you study (so you’re not tempted to sing along!). Taking a break every 45 minutes or so will also help you stay focused.

7. Divide big concepts from smaller details

If you're studying a big topic—like the Civil War for history  or cellular processes for biology —try breaking the material you need to study into chunks. Study one battle at a time or one chapter section at a time—and then quiz yourself. Ask yourself questions about what you’ve just studied, and even write your answers down.

8. Don’t neglect the “easy” stuff

Even if you’ve been acing a certain subject or concept all year and think the test will be a breeze, you should still give it a review before the big day. You don’t want to lose points for careless errors or forget to memorize a key geometry formula.

9. Don’t skip school

Missing classes automatically puts you at a disadvantage. Make sure you go to class (especially during the week leading up to the test) and attend any review sessions your teacher holds. Did you have to miss an important class? You can always ask your teacher or one of our tutors  for help catching up.

10. Review the day of the test

Before you take the test, give yourself time for a quick review. Shuffle through those flashcards a couple of times or re-read your chapter outline. This will ensure the material is fresh in your mind.

Still stuck on how to study for a test?

Try an online tutoring session with one of our experts, and get help in 40+ subjects.

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ACT Writing Tips: 15 Strategies to Raise Your Essay Score

ACT , ACT Writing

Whether you've never thought about ACT Writing strategies or have worked hard on the ACT essay, you can benefit from knowing more: about the essay itself, and what really matters when the graders are reading your essay.

In this article, we offer a number of ACT Writing tips as well as a foolproof template for putting them into practice.

ACT Essay Tips

The ACT essay is a very short assignment—you only get 40 minutes to write a full-fledged essay—and it can pass in a flash if you don't have a method for attacking it. It requires a very specific approach that's unlike the essays you've been writing for English class.

The goal of this approach is to cram in as many of the desired components as possible in the 40 minutes that you've got for the essay. We'll give you the four main elements the ACT asks for, the top three things they don't tell you, and a bulletproof template for your ACT Writing essay format. Here we go!

What ACT, Inc. Does Tell You: 4 Elements to Remember

ACT, Inc. explains the main components of the successful ACT Essay in its scoring criteria . Here they are, condensed and explained:

#1: Ideas & Analysis: A 12-scoring essay includes "an argument that critically engages with multiple perspectives on the given issue. The argument's thesis reflects nuance and precision in thought and purpose. The argument establishes and employs an insightful context for analysis of the issue and its perspectives. The analysis examines implications, complexities and tensions, and/or underlying values and assumptions."

In other words, answer the question that's in the prompt, make it very, very clear what your perspective is and analyze how your perspective relates to at least one other perspective .

Ideas and Analysis is the hardest domain to master; it's tough to do everything you need to do well at all, much less in 40 minutes. The main thing is that you want to show that you understand as many sides of the issue as possible. You can do this by discussing those sides of the issue, why people might have those opinions, and whether those opinions are logical or not.

It's fine to copy the exact words from the prompt into your thesis statement—in fact, this guarantees that the graders will see that your thesis is there and on topic. You must, however, make it obvious which side you are arguing for . If you can, it's great to put the argument in terms of a larger debate—we'll discuss that later.

#2: Development & Support : In a 12-scoring essay, "[d]evelopment of ideas and support for claims deepen insight and broaden context. An integrated line of skillful reasoning and illustration effectively conveys the significance of the argument. Qualifications and complications enrich and bolster ideas and analysis."

Development & Support is another area that can be hard for students to grasp. The bottom line is that you need to fully explain every point you make. If you don't have time to explain it in two to four sentences, leave it out (unless it's the only way you can get in a comparison of your perspective with another perspective). Make sure to either explain your thinking and reasoning or use specific examples to illustrate your points.

#3: Organization : A 12-scoring essay "exhibits a skillful organizational strategy. The response is unified by a controlling idea or purpose, and a logical progression of ideas increases the effectiveness of the writer's argument. Transitions between and within paragraphs strengthen the relationships among ideas."

In short, you need to give each idea one to two paragraphs. If a logical organization for your points occurs to you (for example, if Point 1 depends on Point 2, you'd put Point 2 first), use it. If not, just list your points, allotting a paragraph for each one. A transition that reflects your logic just means tying one point to another somehow, and this is ideal.

The ACT essay scoring system won't penalize you too heavily for a "First, Second, Third" type of organization, so if you just say "My first reason…," and "Second…," that's better than no transitions. The intro and conclusion should make the same general points, and if you mention a larger context in the intro, mention it again in the conclusion.

#4: Language Use: A 12-scoring essay uses language in a way that "enhances the argument. Word choice is skillful and precise. Sentence structures are consistently varied and clear. Stylistic and register choices, including voice and tone, are strategic and effective. While a few minor errors in grammar, usage, and mechanics may be present, they do not impede understanding."

Language Use can be the hardest area for students to improve in (particularly if English is not their native language). "Word choice is skillful and precise" does include using fancy vocabulary, but it also means not repeating yourself and using the advanced vocabulary correctly. The essay graders aren't going to be impressed by words like "dogmatic" and "provincial" if you just throw them in and hope for the best; if you're not sure about the usage of a more advanced word, stick with the simpler one.

Using "consistently varied and clear" sentence structures doesn't just mean not starting every sentence the same way (e.g. "Machines are helpful to humans. Machines can also cause problems. Machines are the answer to our future"). You also need to make sure your sentences are clear and further your logic (rather than making it more difficult to understand). As with word choice (and organization), it's better to be clear than to be fancy.

If in the moment you find that your brain freezes and your sentences are all coming out the same with simple words, don't sweat it. Adding in more advanced vocabulary or switching up sentence structures is something you can fix when you revise your essay in the last two to four minutes of the essay section.

What ACT, Inc. Doesn't Tell You: 3 Secrets

Even though the ACT essay has some clear published guidelines, there are a few secrets that most students don't know and that can give you a major advantage on the test.

These are facts that ACT, Inc. doesn't want to be too well-known because it helps us develop ACT Writing strategies that may give us an edge over people who haven't prepared.

#1: You Don't Need to Know the Facts

You can make up whatever information you need to support your point. Really. As with the tip above, if you know the real facts, that's great (since the grader will probably know them too), but it's not required.

This might sound crazy. You could write about how Al Gore invented the dishwasher, and the ACT graders are not allowed to penalize you. Why is this?

ACT, Inc. doesn't have the resources to do fact-checking on every single essay. With over a million students taking the test every year, graders only have a few minutes to put a score of 1-6 to each of the four essay scoring domains. They can't check whether Martin Luther King was born in 1929 or 1925.

Thus, ACT essay scoring uses a simpler rule—all statements are taken as truth. The important point is that the evidence needs to support your thesis.

(Of course, ACT, Inc. doesn't want people to know about this—that would make the ACT essay sound silly.)

If you're short on examples to prove a point, make up something realistic-sounding (you can even pretend a newspaper or politician said something they didn't), and slap it in there. It's much better than trying to write a vague paragraph without concrete evidence.

#2: You Should Write More Than a Page

This is one of the most important ACT Writing tips. There is a strong relationship between essay length and score—the longer your essay, the better your score. In a short essay, it's difficult for you to develop your points well enough to earn a decent score.

Really, you should write a page and a half if at all possible. Although ACT, Inc. never explicitly mentions that length matters in ACT essay scoring , it does. And if you can write more than a page and a half without repeating yourself or digressing from your point, you'll be in really good shape.

#3: Your First Paragraph and Conclusion Matter More Than the Middle

The introduction and conclusion are the "bookends" of the essay: they hold it together and are guaranteed to be read more closely than the rest of the essay.

ACT graders have to read a lot of essays very quickly, and they give most of them a 3 or a 4 in each domain. The fastest way for them to score an essay is to find the thesis (to make sure that it's there, that it answers the prompt, and that the rest of the essay supports it) and then skim the first and last paragraphs.

Here's why: if a student's introduction and conclusion paragraphs are well-written and logical, it's likely the rest of the essay will be too. By reading these parts, the grader can usually tell with confidence what the score will be. They'll scan the middle to make sure it makes sense, but they probably won't read every word as closely.

On the other hand, if you don't have time to write an introduction or conclusion, you will be heavily penalized. It'll be hard to score above an 8 without an introduction and conclusion, particularly if you don't make your thesis, or point of view, clear in the first paragraph. This might be the most important ACT essay tip we can give you.

A strong ACT writing strategy includes preparing enough time to write and revise your introduction and conclusion paragraphs, as we explain below.

Key Strategy: How to Write A Successful ACT Essay in 40 Minutes

Because you only have 40 minutes to write the ACT essay, you need to have a game plan before you start the test. Here's a step by step guide on how to write an effective ACT essay.

Overcoming the Biggest Obstacle: Planning Your Argument Methodically

One of the things that students often find hardest about the essay is quickly thinking of support for the thesis. But it can be done in a simple, methodical way, which we explain below. Let's start with a sample prompt.

Intelligent Machines

Many of the goods and services we depend on daily are now supplied by intelligent, automated machines rather than human beings. Robots build cars and other goods on assembly lines, where once there were human workers. Many of our phone conversations are now conducted not with people but with sophisticated technologies. We can now buy goods at a variety of stores without the help of a human cashier. Automation is generally seen as a sign of progress, but what is lost when we replace humans with machines? Given the accelerating variety and prevalence of intelligent machines, it is worth examining the implications and meaning of their presence in our lives.

Read and carefully consider these perspectives. Each suggests a particular way of thinking about the increasing presence of intelligent machines.

Perspective One: What we lose with the replacement of people by machines is some part of our own humanity. Even our mundane daily encounters no longer require from us basic courtesy, respect, and tolerance for other people.

Perspective Two: Machines are good at low-skill, repetitive jobs, and at high-speed, extremely precise jobs. In both cases they work better than humans. This efficiency leads to a more prosperous and progressive world for everyone.

Perspective Three: Intelligent machines challenge our long-standing ideas about what humans are or can be. This is good because it pushes both humans and machines toward new, unimagined possibilities.

Write a unified, coherent essay about the increasing presence of intelligent machines. In your essay, be sure to:

• clearly state your own perspective on the issue and analyze the relationship between your perspective and at least one other perspective
• develop and support your ideas with reasoning and examples
• organize your ideas clearly and logically
• communicate your ideas effectively in standard written English

Your perspective may be in full agreement with any of the others, in partial agreement, or wholly different.

In the prompt above, the ACT gives you three viewpoints so that you have a starting point for ideas to consider in your discussion of various perspectives. But you'll need to elaborate on these as well. Let's look at the viewpoints this prompt gives us.

• Conservative: "Intelligent machines lead to problems, which is bad."
• Utilitarian: "Intelligent machines allow us to be more efficient, which is good."
• Progressive: "Intelligent machines lead to progress, which is good."

Supporting each viewpoint is a slew of possible reasons, and these are what you want to lay out clearly in your essay. You can, of course, choose any side of the argument, but one is usually easier to argue than the other (because it is opposite the other two given perspectives, which gives you more opportunity to compare and contrast).

For this prompt, it's easier to argue against intelligent machines than to argue for their efficiency or progress, so we'll look at potential support for the "conservative" argument, which is that "Intelligent machines lead to problems."

To argue against any change, we can point out its assumptions and how they are false, or its consequences and how they are bad:

• it assumes that machines lead to progress [assumption made by perspective 3]
• it assumes that machines allow us to be more efficient [assumption made by perspective 2]
• it assumes that the benefits machines give to us outweigh the negatives
• it could lead to progress in some areas, but also to new problems caused by that progress
• it could let us be more efficient in some ways, but end up creating more
• it would hurt us more than it would help because people would end up becoming less courteous and respectful to and tolerant of other people [perspective 1]

This method works for any argument. If you find yourself supporting the proposal in the prompt, like that a right to avoid health risks is a more important freedom than the right to do whatever you want, then you just need to think of ways it would be positive. That can be much simpler. But you can still use the assumptions-and-consequences method above for the paragraph in which you address at least one other perspective.

The Golden Essay Template

This is a tried and true structure for earning a great score on the ACT essay. Just by following this template and keeping in mind the ACT writing tips above, you're pretty much guaranteed a 6 or higher out of 12. Do a decent job and you'll easily get an 8 or higher. Here are a few real ACT prompts to keep in mind as we go through the steps:

• Intelligent machines : they're not good, they're good and practical, or they're good and lead to progress.
• Public health and individual freedom : freedom is more important than physical health, society should strive for the greatest good for the most people, or the right to avoid health risks is more important than individual freedom.

Time: 8-10 minutes

#1 : Decide on your thesis , choosing one of the three sides. You can try to form your own, fourth perspective, but since you have to compare your perspective with at least one other perspective, you might as well argue for one of given perspectives and save some time for writing.

#2 : Quickly brainstorm two or three reasons or examples that support your thesis.

#3 : Brainstorm counterarguments for or analyses of at least one other perspective and your responses.

#4 : Organize your essay. Make sure you order your points in a way that makes sense.

#5 : Check your time . Try to have 30 minutes left at this point so you have enough time to write. If you don't, just keep in mind that you might have to cut out one of your supporting points.

Time: 25-28 minutes

• Write your introduction. If you can think of an interesting first sentence that brings your thesis into a larger discussion (say, of how intelligent machines have changed the way people interact with each other), start with that.
• Narrow down from the larger context to your specific response to the question (your thesis), which should be at or near the end of the first paragraph.
• It can be helpful to the reader to have your reasons and examples "previewed" in the introduction if it fits in well.

#2: Paragraph 2: Transitions & Opposing Perspective.

• When you start paragraph 2, try to think of a first sentence that refers back to the first paragraph.
• "In contrast to [my perspective], some people claim that [other perspective]…" is a simple example of an effective way to transition into the second paragraph. If you're arguing for perspective one for the intelligent machines prompt, for instance, you'd replace the first part of the sentence with, "In contrast to the assumption that intelligent machines will inevitably lead to problems," and replace [other perspective] with the perspective you're comparing to your own.
• Then, address a perspective opposing yours and why its supporters are wrong or misguided. In the example about intelligent machines above (where we've chosen to argue Perspective 1), you could argue against perspective 2 or 3 (or some other clearly defined perspective) in this paragraph.

#3: Body Paragraphs (those remaining before the conclusion):

• Introduce your first reason or example in support of the perspective you'll be discussing.
• In 3-5 sentences, explain your reasoning as to how this perspective relates to your own (using explanations of your thinking or specific examples to support the point).
• Connect your example to the thesis and then state that it supports your thesis.
• Check your time . Try to have 7 minutes left by this point.

#4: Conclusion

• (Optional) Relate your two or three examples back to your thesis. Add one or two sentences if you want.
• End with a restatement of your thesis or a return to your first lines to wrap up the essay.

Time: 2-4 minutes

Hopefully, you still have 2-4 minutes to read over your essay. In this time, you can do several things.

#1: You can, of course, correct mistakes.

#2: You can replace dull words with fancier words.

#3: You can make sure that your introduction and conclusion "match" by stating the same thesis (in different words, of course).

Notice the two time-checking steps (in the Planning and the Body Paragraphs stages). It's very easy to get caught in the planning stage and run out of time on your actual essay, which is easy to avoid if you practice checking your time.

If you have to make a choice between explaining a perspective or writing a conclusion paragraph, always choose the explanation. You can get by with a short sentence for a conclusion as long as you have a clear thesis in your introduction, but if you leave out the analysis of the relationship between your perspective and one of the ACT's perspectives in your essay, you'll lose a lot of points.

Now you practice. Print out the template above, consult our ACT Essay Prompts Article (or think of any controversial issue in the world today), and get to work. You may find that many issues can be argued using the same reasoning or examples.

For instance, the argument that the benefits of the changes happening in the world don't necessarily outweigh the problems they create can apply to many of the new ACT prompts. You can research concrete information to support this kind of useful argument, like a newspaper article about how the Industrial Revolution led to increased environmental destruction.

More like Industrial Re-POLL-ution, am I right?

Remember: the more you practice, the easier it gets, as you learn how to reuse information to suit different purposes and your brain becomes used to thinking in this way.

What's Next?

Read more about the new ACT Writing Test and how to score a perfect score on your ACT essay .

Want more in-depth guides? Check out our step-by-step guide to writing top-scoring ACT essay as well as a complete breakdown of the new ACT Writing Scoring Rubric .

Hungry for more practice ACT Writing prompts? Look no further than our article containing links to all the freely available official ACT Writing prompts that have been released so far, as well as bonus prompts I constructed.

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Laura graduated magna cum laude from Wellesley College with a BA in Music and Psychology, and earned a Master's degree in Composition from the Longy School of Music of Bard College. She scored 99 percentile scores on the SAT and GRE and loves advising students on how to excel in high school.

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Writing Under Pressure: Strategies for Excelling in Timed Essay Exams

• Posted on October 24, 2024

Writing under time constraints often brings out the best—or the most challenging—aspects of academic performance. In environments where essays and exams dictate success, mastering the skill of timed writing is crucial.

Whether you’re a seasoned essayist or a newcomer to this type of test, you’ll need valuable tips on preparation, time management, and effective writing techniques to handle the timed essays. The goal of this guide is to empower you to deliver your best work within strict time limits.

Understanding Timed Essay Exams

Timed essay exams require candidates to draft essays within a specified, limited time frame, typically seen in educational assessments and some professional tests.

These exams test not only your knowledge and understanding of the subject matter but also your ability to organize thoughts, argue effectively, and write succinctly under pressure. However, strict time limits can induce significant stress, impacting clarity of thought and writing quality. 

Managing to formulate coherent arguments and structuring essays efficiently within the given time is another common issue.

Additionally, the inability to revise thoroughly due to time constraints often leads to mistakes that could have been easily corrected under normal circumstances. Thus, addressing these challenges is key to improving performance in timed writing tasks.

Preparation Strategies for Essay Exams

Understanding the format of your essay exams is the first step toward success. Different exams require unique approaches. Some might ask for persuasive essays, others for analytical responses. 

Knowing the format helps you anticipate the kind of questions you might face and the best strategies to answer them.

Master the Material: Effective Study Techniques

Effective study habits are crucial for excelling in essay exams. Begin by organizing your study materials based on topics likely to be covered. 

Use active learning techniques such as summarizing information , teaching the material to someone else, and using flashcards.

Regular review sessions increase retention and understanding, ensuring you’re prepared to apply your knowledge under exam conditions. Prioritize understanding over memorization to adapt your knowledge to any question in the exam.

Developing a Writing Strategy

An effective outline is your roadmap during a timed essay. Start with a clear thesis statement that defines the direction of your essay. List the main points that support your thesis, ensuring they are logical and compelling.

Under each point, jot down a few subpoints or evidence that bolster your argument. This method not only organizes your thoughts but also speeds up your writing process, as you have a clear framework to follow during the exam.

Practice Essays

Practicing under conditions that simulate the actual exam is one of the best ways to prepare for essay exams. Set a timer and write essays within the allotted time. This practice helps you gauge how well you can organize and express your thoughts under pressure.

After each session, review your essay to identify areas for improvement. Adjust your strategy accordingly to manage your time better and enhance the quality of your writing. This repetitive practice builds confidence and skills, greatly improving your performance when it counts.

Time Management During the Exam

Effective time management is essential during timed essay exams. It helps you allocate enough time for planning, writing, and revising your essay.

Allocating Time: Breaking Down the Exam

Begin by reading all the questions carefully and noting how much time you can allocate to each based on their point value. Spend the first few minutes planning your answers.

For example, if you have one hour, allocate 5-10 minutes to outline your essays, 40-45 minutes to write, and the remaining time to review and make necessary edits. This strategy ensures you can cover all required sections without rushing through any part.

Techniques to Accelerate Your Writing

By applying these techniques, you can improve your efficiency and ensure that you use your exam time optimally, allowing for better-structured and more compelling essays.

• Outline First: Quickly jot down a basic outline for each essay. This guide keeps you on track and prevents you from veering off-topic.
• Write Clear, Concise Sentences: Avoid complex sentence structures that could slow down your writing speed. Keep sentences short and to the point.
• Focus on Main Ideas: Spend less time on elaborate details. Concentrate on developing strong main points to support your thesis.
• Use Keywords: Integrate keywords from the question into your essay to ensure it remains relevant and focused.
• Skip Difficult Sections: If you’re stuck, move on to other sections of your essay. Return to difficult parts later if time permits.

Writing Techniques for Essay Exams

Proper structuring of essays enhances both clarity and persuasive power, particularly under time constraints. It is important to know the essential strategies for crafting impactful introductions, developing coherent paragraphs, and concluding essays memorably.

Starting Strong

The introduction of your essay sets the tone and establishes the scope of your argument. Begin with a strong thesis statement that clearly outlines your main point. This statement should be concise and assertive, directly addressing the essay prompt.

To engage the reader, introduce your key points briefly, providing a roadmap of your essay’s structure. 

Consider opening with a compelling hook, such as a surprising statistic, a relevant quote, or a provocative question, to grab the reader’s attention. This approach ensures that your introduction is not only informative but also interesting.

Maintaining Focus

Coherence in paragraphs is crucial for maintaining the flow of your argument. Start each paragraph with a clear topic sentence that ties directly back to your thesis. This sentence should introduce the main idea of the paragraph.

Follow this with supporting sentences that include evidence, examples, or explanations that validate your point. Use logical connectors and transitional phrases to link your ideas smoothly from one to the next, ensuring that your argument builds logically throughout the essay.

Keep your writing concise and focused, avoiding digressions or extraneous information that could distract from the main topic.

Concluding Effectively

Your conclusion should serve as a powerful closure for your essay, synthesizing your main points and reinforcing your thesis. Begin by summarizing the key arguments discussed, highlighting how they collectively support your central claim.

Then, restate your thesis, reflecting on the evidence and showing a deeper understanding or a broader implication of your argument. Consider ending with a call to action or a forward-looking statement that challenges the reader to think beyond the essay.

Reviewing and Revising Under Time Constraints

Writing essays under time constraints often feels daunting. Efficient review and revision within such limits can dramatically improve the quality of your work. By adopting a strategic approach, you can refine your essays effectively, even during timed exams.

Quick Review Techniques

Before diving into revisions, a quick review of your essay ensures that it aligns with the prompt and flows logically. Here are several techniques to implement:

• Skim your introduction and conclusion first: Confirm that both sections mirror each other in terms of the thesis and main points. This alignment sets a coherent framework for your essay.
• Read the first sentences of each paragraph: This helps you gauge whether each paragraph’s topic is clear and contributes directly to your thesis. Adjust as necessary to maintain focus.
• Check for common errors: Quickly scan for grammatical mistakes that are often repeated, such as subject-verb agreement or incorrect pronoun usage. Correcting these can significantly clean up your text.
• Use shorthand comments: While reviewing, jot down quick notes or symbols in the margins to indicate areas needing refinement, such as unclear statements or examples that don’t quite fit.
• Time your review sessions: Allocate a specific amount of time for review, usually a third of the total time given for the essay. This ensures you leave enough time for actual revisions without feeling rushed.

Prioritizing Revisions: What to Focus On

Once you’ve reviewed your essay, deciding what to revise is the next step. Prioritize clarity and coherence. Start by strengthening your thesis statement if it feels vague; this acts as the foundation of your essay.

Next, ensure that each paragraph’s main idea supports your thesis. If any paragraph strays from the topic, refocus it or remove it. Additionally, improving transitions between paragraphs can help your essay flow more smoothly.

Lastly, cut redundant words or phrases to tighten your arguments. These revisions make your essay more persuasive and easier to read under the scrutiny of exam conditions.

Coping with Exam Stress and Anxiety

Handling stress and anxiety effectively is crucial when writing essays during exams. Mastering relaxation and focus techniques can significantly enhance your performance and well-being.

Pre-Exam Relaxation Techniques

Relaxation techniques can dramatically reduce stress before exams, setting a positive tone for your performance. With these key relaxation strategies, you will be better prepared to write your exam or essay.

• Deep breathing exercises: Spend a few minutes taking deep, controlled breaths to slow your heart rate and promote calmness.
• Progressive muscle relaxation: Tense and then relax each muscle group, starting from your toes and working up to your shoulders and neck.
• Visualization: Close your eyes and imagine a place where you feel at peace. Visualize yourself succeeding and writing confidently during the exam.
• Mindful meditation: Focus on being present in the moment. Concentrate on your breathing or a single object to clear your mind of anxieties.
• Brief physical activity: Engage in a short walk or do some light stretching. Physical activity can reduce stress hormones and increase endorphins.

Staying Calm and Focused During the Exam

Once the exam begins, maintaining calm and focus is essential for writing effectively. Start by organizing your thoughts and sketching a brief outline of your essay. This outline should clearly state your thesis and the main points you plan to discuss.

Refer to this outline throughout the exam to keep your essay on track and ensure that every paragraph serves a purpose in your argument. If you feel panic setting in, pause for a moment, close your eyes, and take a few deep breaths to reset.

Keep your focus on the question at hand and avoid worrying about the ticking clock. Concentrate solely on one section at a time, which helps manage overwhelming feelings and sharpens your concentration. 

By staying methodical and calm, you can improve your performance under pressure and produce a well-structured essay.

Leveraging Feedback and Learning from Mistakes

Utilizing feedback and learning from past mistakes is pivotal in improving your essay writing skills for exams. This approach not only boosts your performance but also builds your confidence.

Analyzing Feedback from Past Exams

Reviewing feedback from previous exams provides crucial insights into your writing strengths and weaknesses. Start by reading comments carefully and noting recurring themes or criticisms.

If instructors consistently point out issues with your thesis clarity or argument structure, prioritize these areas in your next preparations. Also, look for positive feedback to understand what aspects of your writing resonate well. 

It’s beneficial to discuss this feedback with your instructors or peers to gain further clarity and advice on how to address the criticisms effectively.

Strategies for Continuous Improvement in Essay Writing

Improving essay writing, especially under exam conditions, requires a systematic approach. By implementing these strategies, you can continuously enhance your essay-writing skills. 

• Practice regularly: Write essays frequently to hone your skills. Timed practice sessions simulate exam conditions and help you write more efficiently.
• Expand your vocabulary: A richer vocabulary allows for more precise and impactful writing. Learn new words daily and practice incorporating them into your essays.
• Seek feedback actively: Regularly ask teachers, tutors, or peers for feedback on your essays. Constructive criticism is invaluable for improvement.
• Analyze top-scoring essays: Study essays that scored highly to identify effective strategies and techniques. Emulate these in your writing.
• Focus on essay structure: Ensure every essay has a clear introduction, body, and conclusion. A strong structure helps convey your arguments more effectively.
• Refine your editing skills: Develop your ability to spot and correct errors during the revision phase. This skill is crucial for producing polished and concise essays under time constraints.

Mastering Timed Essays: Key Takeaways and Final Thoughts

Mastering timed essay exams hinges on preparation, effective time management, and strong writing skills. By familiarizing yourself with the exam format, mastering the material, and practicing under timed conditions, you can significantly improve your performance. 

Writing succinctly and coherently within set time limits not only boosts your exam scores but also enhances your overall academic and professional communication skills. Now, take these strategies, apply them in your study routine, and witness the improvement in your next timed essay exam. Start practicing today and transform your approach to essay exams!

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9 Tips to Ace That Timed Essay

Exams are almost upon us, and a familiar sense of foreboding has settled over the campus. One exam element that can be particularly intimidating for some students is the timed essay: an exam question which demands a full essay on a topic that is typically revealed for the first time during the test. While these kinds of questions may seem scary, there are plenty of ways to make them easy for yourself. Read on for tips about how to prepare in advance of the exam and how to approach timed essays before, during, and after the writing process.

While Preparing for the Exam: Become familiar with the course content. If the professor hasn’t told you in advance what a timed essay prompt will be, it can be intimidating to think that you will have to write about a subject you’ve never seen before. However, this thinking process does not reflect the reality of the situation. In fact, even if your teacher hasn’t given you any hints about the essay question, you do know what it will be about: the concepts and ideas you’ve discussed in the course. Therefore, if you take the time to review your notes and ensure you understand everything that was discussed, it should be difficult for the essay question to catch you off guard. As soon as you read the question, relevant course concepts will start popping into your head, and you’ll just have to organize them into a coherent essay. Start planning if you can. Although the situation described above sometimes occurs, it’s also very common for professors to give their students a fairly detailed idea of what an essay question will involve in advance of the test day. (After all, professors want to mark high-quality essays written by well-prepared students!) This heads-up gives you a great chance to prepare for the exam. If you have the time, consider mapping out a possible essay in point form before the day of the exam arrives. Consider practicing writing under time pressure. You’ve probably written dozens of essays before--the only thing that sets a timed essay apart is that it’s timed. Students often struggle to complete the full essay within the time constraints, particularly if they have to write longhand when they’re accustomed to working on the computer. For this reason, it can be helpful to simulate the conditions of a timed exam before the actual day: pick a practice question, find some lined paper, set a stopwatch, and see how you do! Before You Start Writing: Read the question carefully. The most critical part of the essay-writing process actually happens before you write your first word. When you flip to the essay question, make sure you read it as carefully as you can, noting the difference between words such as ‘contrast’ and ‘analyze’ and highlighting any details which the professor specifically instructs you to include. It’s not uncommon for excellent essays to receive low marks because the student answered a question other than the one that was asked. Make a clear and specific plan. Some students react to the time pressure of essay exams by scribbling down their introduction as soon as they’ve read the question and figuring out their points as they go. While it might seem counter-intuitive, taking five or ten minutes before you start writing in order to draw up a plan will be an enormous time saver. Decide on your thesis, the topic of each paragraph, and the arguments which you intend to cover, then jot down some quick point-form notes. This process won’t take long, and, once you complete it, all that’s left will be to expand those notes into a well-organized essay. Without a clear plan, you run the risk of realizing partway through that you’ve drifted off topic or written yourself into a corner, and fixing these mistakes will consume a ton of extra time. Schedule a set time for each paragraph. On the topic of planning, it’s important to sketch out an idea of how long you want to spend on each section of your essay. (If you know the number of paragraphs you’ll need to write ahead of time, you can do this before the exam even starts!) Take note of the amount of time allotted for the exam and split it into reasonably-sized segments, leaving some time at the end for revision if possible. Without a schedule to follow, it’s easy to become too focused on a single paragraph and run out of time to finish the essay. While You’re Writing: Write clearly and double-space. This tip may seem basic, but it’s easy to forget and it can make a big difference. Both these measures won’t just make it easier for the marker to read your paper; they'll also help you write it. If you have time left at the end of the exam for review, having the ability to skim quickly through your work and write revisions in blank spaces will be incredibly helpful.

Keep yourself on schedule.  Remember the paragraph-based schedule we discussed above? It’ll be useless if you don’t do regular check-ins during the exam. Keep an eye on the clock to ensure you’re always on track. If you realize that you’re falling dangerously behind schedule, it might be necessary to cut some arguments or examples you planned to include. Although making these omissions can be painful, it’s better to leave out a few points from one section than to leave out an entire paragraph because you ran out of time. Don’t worry too much about editing and revision before you finish. When composing essays, many students stop and read over each paragraph once they finish it, making sure that it’s well-written and free of errors before advancing to the next one. This approach is entirely logical when there’s no time pressure involved, but it can actually work against you during an exam. Perfecting paragraphs is a time-consuming process, and, if you spend too much time editing before the essay is finished, you might have to rush through the last few sections or leave them out entirely. For this reason, it’s best to focus on producing a complete first draft before you worry about edits and revisions.

After You’ve Finished Writing: Re-read the question and ensure you’ve addressed all parts. The most important part of writing an essay exam is ensuring that you’re answering the question was posed. Even if you made sure you were interpreting everything correctly before you began, you may have forgotten to address a subquestion or integrate an example as you were writing. Before you submit, read the prompt again and make sure your completed essay matches up! Edit if you have time. If you have enough time left over, read your essay again and make corrections. When you’re working under time pressure, it’s easy to make grammar mistakes or produce hard-to-follow sentences; the final few minutes are your chance to clean up those errors. Unless if you finished way ahead of schedule, don’t worry about major revisions like reorganizing the structure of the essay--it’s better to hand in an essay with an imperfect structure than a paper that’s impossible to follow because you had to stop halfway through the revision process.

Remember to have the right perspective. Once you hand your exam to the professor, relax! It’s easy to work yourself up after an essay exam when you didn’t get the chance to read your work over or you feel like your arguments were weak. However, it’s important to keep in mind that your professor understands the circumstances under which the essay was written. They’re fully aware of the time pressure you were dealing with, and they will judge your work far differently than they would judge a typical essay with a deadline set weeks after the assignment date. If you did your best to write a complete, clear, and insightful essay within the time allotted, you should have nothing to worry about. Best of luck during the upcoming exam season!

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Best Test-Taking Strategies and Tips for Students

Overcome anxieties and do your best every time!

From pop quizzes to standardized tests, students face a lot of graded assessments and exams throughout their school years. Help them develop strong test-taking strategies they can use no matter what type of assessment it is. These key skills will ensure students are able to show what they know when the heat is on!

When To Teach Test-Taking Strategies and Tips

How to teach test-taking strategies, test anxiety, test prep strategies, general test-taking strategies, test-taking strategies by question type, test question mnemonics, after the test.

It’s important to start teaching kids how to handle taking tests from an early age. All the tips shown here are applicable to any grade, so use them early. Teach test-taking strategies for elementary students right from the start, showing them how to prepare for and approach a test calmly and with confidence. Remind them tests are just one way that they get to show what they know.

Middle school test-taking strategies are just a continuation of what they learned and practiced early on. Continue to stress these skills so they become second nature. This will help them master test-taking strategies for high school, when they start taking the SAT, ACT, final exams, and other important assessments.

One important thing to remember about these test strategies is that the more students use them, the sooner they’ll become routine. Teachers should demonstrate and model skills like understanding the question, underlining and highlighting, crossing out wrong answers, and more. Then, ensure kids use them on any kind of assignment, such as homework or worksheets. That way, it becomes a habit instead of a special test-taking behavior.

Parents and families can help their kids too. Share this guide with them so they can learn the kinds of behaviors that can help their student succeed. That will allow them to help kids build and practice those behaviors consistently over time.

Tip: Remember that most online test-taking strategies are pretty much the same as those for paper-based tests. The key is to get kids comfortable and willing to use them. Give online practice tests, and require kids to use the digital tools and strategies that are available to them. It’s all about establishing a habit.

No matter how much they prep, some people still panic at the sight of a test paper or screen. It’s estimated that 35% of all students have some form of test anxiety , so you’re not alone. These tips may help.

• Prep over time. Follow the steps below and spend a little time studying each day, so the right answers become second nature.
• Practice taking tests. Use a tool like Kahoot or other study resources to create a practice test. Then take it under the same conditions you can expect to face at school. Use the test-taking strategies shown below until they become automatic.
• Practice deep breathing. When you panic, you stop breathing properly, and lack of oxygen affects your brain. Learn to do deep-breathing exercises, and use them before and even during a test.
• Take a break. If you simply can’t get your head in the game, ask for the bathroom pass and get out of the classroom for a minute or two. You can even write a note to your teacher to let them know you’re struggling, in case they don’t let students leave the room during tests.
• Talk to teachers and parents. Don’t keep your test anxiety inside! Let your parents, teachers, and other supporting adults know that tests really amp up your anxiety. They may have coping tips for you or even offer accommodations to help you out.
• Keep things in perspective. We promise, failing one test will not destroy your life. If test anxiety is disrupting your life (affecting your mood, causing you to lose sleep, giving you physical symptoms like stomach problems or headaches), you might need to talk to someone like a counselor or therapist.

The best way to pass a test? Master the skills and knowledge a little at a time, so the right answers are always available to you. That means setting aside some study time each day for every subject. Try these prep tips and ideas.

Take Good Notes

Study after study has shown the importance of actively taking notes rather than passively reading a handout later on. The act of writing engages different parts of the brain, forging new pathways that help students retain information in long-term memory. What’s more, the studies show that the more detailed the notes, the better. Taking good notes is a real skill, and there are a variety of different options. Learn them all, and decide which ones work best for you. ADVERTISEMENT

• Learn more: Top Note-Taking Strategies Every Student Should Know

Know Your Learning Style

All students use different learning methods to retain and understand the same information. Some like written words, some prefer to hear it and talk about it. Others need to do something with their hands or see images and diagrams. These are known as learning styles. While it’s important not to pigeonhole students into any one style, kids should be aware of any strengths they have and use them to create appropriate study materials and test-taking strategies.

• Learn more: What Are Learning Styles?

Create Review Materials

There are so many ways to review for tests! It’s important to take time to find the ones that work best for you. Some people love flash cards; others like to record and listen to their notes, and so on. Here are some common review materials that work well for the different learning styles:

• Visual: Diagrams; charts; graphs; maps; videos with or without sound; photos and other images; graphic organizers and sketchnotes
• Auditory: Lectures; audiobooks; videos with sound; music and songs; text-to-speech translation; discussion and debate; teaching others
• Read/write: Reading textbooks, articles, and handouts; watching video with subtitles turned on; using speech-to-text translation and transcripts; making lists; writing answers to questions
• Kinesthetic: Hands-on practice; educational craft projects; experiments and demonstrations; trial and error; moving and playing games while learning

Form Study Groups

While some students work best on their own, many others thrive working with others to keep them on track and motivated. Setting up study buddies or groups enhances everyone’s study skills. Here are some tips for forming good groups:

• Choose your study partners wisely. Your friends may or may not be the best people to study with. If you’re not sure, ask your teacher to recommend a partner or group.
• Set up regular study times. These can be in-person or online via virtual spaces like Zoom.
• Create a study plan. “Let’s get together and study” sounds great, but it’s not very specific. Decide who will make any resources in advance, and hold each other accountable for good notes, flash cards, etc.
• Evaluate your group. After a few tests, determine if your study group is really helping its members succeed. If you’re all struggling, it might be time to mix up the group or add some new members.

Cramming is definitely not one of the best test-taking strategies. When you try to condense all your learning into a few hours the night before a test, you’re likely to feel overwhelmed and exhausted. Plus, cramming may help you remember information in the short term, but it doesn’t help you master knowledge for a lifetime. Avoid the need to cram with these tips:

• Set aside review time after every class. Each night, look over the day’s notes, and use them to create review materials like flash cards, review questions, online quizzes, and the like.
• Mark the dates of upcoming tests on your calendar. Use those dates to plan your study schedule in advance.

Get Rest and Eat Well

Feeling your best is key to acing a test!

• Don’t stay up late to cram. Even if you’re short on time, getting enough sleep is vital. Try to squeeze in a little extra study time during your normal waking hours instead.
• Eat a good breakfast. It sounds trite, but it really is true. A good breakfast sets you up for a good day!
• Don’t skip lunch. If your test is in the afternoon, eat a healthy lunch or grab a protein-heavy snack before exam time.
• Stay hydrated. When your body is dehydrated, you’re more prone to headaches that make it harder to concentrate. Drink lots of water, and keep some on hand during the test if allowed.
• Visit the restroom. Go in advance so you don’t need to break your concentration once the test begins.

No matter what type of exam you’re taking, there are some test-taking strategies that always apply. These tips work for multiple-choice, essay, short-answer, or any other kind of exam or quiz.

Tackle Easy Questions First

Focus on showing what you know, and build confidence as you go along.

• Look over the entire test first, without answering any questions just yet. This allows you to plan your time and find out what to expect as you go along.
• Ask questions right away. If you’re not sure what a question is asking, talk to your teacher. It’s better to clarify than to guess.
• On your second run-through, answer any questions or problems you’re certain about. Skip those that you need more time to consider.
• Finally, go back and handle more challenging questions, one at a time.

Watch the Time

Know how much time you have to complete the test, and keep an eye on the clock. Don’t get obsessed with how much time is left, though. Simply work at a comfortable pace, and check the clock at the end of each page or section. Feel like you’re running out of time? Remember to prioritize questions that are worth more points, or those that you’re more confident about.

Review Before Submitting

Answering the last question doesn’t mean you’re done just yet. Look back over your test and check the following:

• Did you put your name on your paper? (So easy to forget!)
• Have you answered every question? Don’t lose valuable points due to lack of attention to detail.
• Did you check your work? Do math problems in reverse to make sure the answers make sense.
• Have you truly answered the questions asked? For essay and short answer, make sure you’ve addressed everything the prompt requires.
• Were you neat and clear? Check your handwriting if applicable, and make sure the person grading it can read what you wrote.

Different types of questions require different test-taking strategies. Here’s how to conquer the most common question types.

Multiple Choice

• Read the question carefully. Look for “gotcha” words like “not” or “except,” and ensure you know exactly what’s being asked.
• Form your own answer. Before you look at the options, think of your own answer. If one of the options matches your answer, go ahead and select it and move on. Still need help? Continue with the rest of the steps.
• Eliminate any obvious wrong answers, those that are irrelevant, etc. If you’re only left with one option, that must be it!
• Still not sure? If you can, circle it or mark it, then come back later. As you work on other parts of the test, you might remember the answer.
• Make a final choice: In the end, it’s usually better to pick something than to leave a question blank (there are exceptions to this, so make sure you know in advance). Choose the one that seems best, and move on so you can finish the whole test.
• Read both lists completely before you start to answer. This cuts down on impulse answers.
• Read the instructions. Does each item in column A have only one match in column B? Or can you use items from column B more than once?
• Cross off answers as you use them. If you can only use each answer in column B once, cross it off as you use it to make it easier to ignore as you continue.
• Complete easy matches first, then come back to more challenging ones.
• Read each statement carefully, word by word. Look for double negatives and other tricky syntaxes.
• Watch for qualifiers like: always, never, often, sometimes, generally. Stricter qualifiers like “always” or “never” often signify the answer is false (though not always).
• Break long sentences into parts, and examine each part. Remember that each part of the sentence must be correct for the answer to be “true.”

Short Answer

• Read the question thoroughly, and mark any requirements like “name,” “list,” “describe,” or “compare.”
• Keep your answer concise. Unlike essay questions, you often don’t need to answer in complete sentences, so don’t waste time with extra words. (Read the directions closely, though, in case complete sentences are required.)
• Show what you know. If you can’t answer the entire question, go ahead and write what you do know. Many tests give partial credit for partial answers.
• Sketch an outline before you start. Determine your basic topic sentence, and jot a few notes for each paragraph or point.
• Use concrete examples. Make sure you have specific evidence to support any point you’re making. Vague answers don’t prove you really know the material.
• Edit your first draft. When you’re done with your first draft answer, reread it immediately. Make any corrections that come to mind.
• Finalize your answer. If there are other questions on the test, go ahead and complete them. When you’re done, come back to each one for a final proofread. Add any missing information, fix misspellings and punctuation errors, and make sure you’ve completely answered the questions you were asked.
• Learn more: Five Dos and Don’ts for Timed Essay Tests
• Listen to or read the question, then re-phrase it out loud to be sure you understand what’s being asked.
• Take a deep breath and a solid pause before you answer. Think through what you’ll say before you start to talk. It’s OK to be silent for a minute or two!
• Ask if you can jot down some notes before you talk. This can help you remember all you need to say.
• Take your time as you talk. Racing through makes it more likely you’ll make a mistake, or that your examiner won’t understand you.
• Answer the question, then stop talking. There’s no need to tell them everything you know, and the more you talk, the more opportunities you have for making an error.
• That being said, be sure to answer the whole question. Ensure your answer covers everything you were asked.

Online Tests

• Make use of the digital tools available to you. Many online testing programs offer tools such as highlighting, adding notes, crossing off wrong answers, etc. They’re there to help you out, so use them digitally just like you would on paper.
• Use scratch paper liberally, if allowed. Make notes as you read, jot down any requirements, work out the problems—whatever you need to feel more confident answering questions. If you take an entire test without using scratch paper once, chances are you haven’t been very thorough.
• Take advantage of the ability to skip questions. Although not all tests allow you to do so, many do. In fact, you can usually mark a question to indicate you want to come back to it later. Don’t feel pressured to answer each question before you move on just because it’s on the screen in front of you.
• Master your keyboard skills. If typing is a weak point for you, take a training course and get as much practice as possible. Focus on learning to type accurately and efficiently, so you’re able to type your thoughts fluently as they occur.

Need an easy way to remember some of these test-taking strategies? Try these mnemonic devices!

This general strategy from Ms. Fultz’s Corner works for multiple test question types.

• L: Leave the hard questions for last.
• E: Erase and fix your answers when checking your work.
• A: Add details to written answers.
• R: Read and reread to dig out the answers you need.
• N: Never give up, and do your best!

This is another one that applies to most tests, via Academic Tutoring & Testing .

• R: Read the question carefully.
• E: Examine every answer choice.
• L: Label your answer or your proof.
• A: Always check your answers.
• X: X-out (cross out) answers you know are wrong.

Use this one for reading passages with accompanying questions. Learn more about UNWRAP here.

• U: Underline the title and make a prediction.
• N: Number the paragraphs.
• W: Walk through the questions.
• R: Read the passage twice.
• A: Answer each question.
• P: Prove your answers with paragraph numbers.

This one is simple and gets right to the heart of the matter.

• R: Read the questions first.
• U: Underline the key words in the questions.
• N: Now, read the selection.
• S: Select the best answer.

This is similar to RUNS, with a few key differences. Learn more from Book Units Teacher.

• R: Read the title and predict.
• U: Underline keywords in the question.
• N: Now read the passage.
• E: Enclose keywords.
• R: Read the questions, eliminating wrong options.

Larry Bell’s reading passage strategy is popular with many teachers.

• U: Underline the title.
• N: Now predict what the text is about.
• R: Run through and number the paragraphs.
• A: Are the questions read, in your head?
• A: Are you circling the important words?
• V: Venture through the passage (read it, picture it, and think about the answers).
• E: Eliminate the wrong answers.
• L: Let the questions be answered.

This one is quick and easy for kids to remember.

• S: Summarize each paragraph.
• T: Think about the question.
• O: Offer proof for your choice.
• P: Pick the best answer.

This is a time-tested mnemonic for math word problems, used by teachers and schools everywhere.

• C: Circle the numbers.
• U: Underline the question.
• B: Box key words.
• E: Eliminate extra information and wrong answer choices.
• S: Show your work.

Take a breath—the test is done! Now what?

Don’t Worry About Your Grade (Yet)

This is so hard, but stressing over the results won’t help you get them any faster—or change your grade. Focus on what’s ahead of you right now, and deal with your test grade when you get it. Repeat to yourself: “I can’t change it by worrying about it.”

Learn From Your Mistakes

Whether you pass or fail, take a moment to look over wrong answers or missing information. Make notes about them so you can follow up for final exams or upcoming assignments.

Ask for Help or a Retake

Not sure why something was wrong? Ask your teacher! Still don’t understand a concept? Ask your teacher! Seriously, it’s what they’re there for. If you prepared and still didn’t pass, consider getting some tutoring or teacher assistance, then asking for an opportunity to retake the test. Teachers really do want you to learn, and if they can tell you tried your best and are still struggling, they might be willing to give you another chance.

Celebrate Your Successes

Did you pass? Hurray! Learn from any mistakes, but don’t sweat them too much. You did the hard work, you got a passing grade—take a moment to feel proud of your accomplishment!

What test-taking strategies do you teach your students? Come share your ideas and ask for advice in the We Are Teachers HELPLINE group on Facebook !

Plus, check out should teachers allow test retakes .

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How to Improve Your Test-Taking Skills: Top Tips & Strategies

Are you dreading your upcoming test because you feel unprepared? Or are you simply looking to refresh and improve your test-taking skills? In this article by Custom-Writing.org experts, you’ll find a collection of excellent test-taking tips and strategies. Even if you only have one day to prepare for your test, you’re sure to use some of them.

• 🤓 Preparing for the Test
• ❓ Different Types of Questions
• 🌚 The Night Before
• ✍️ Taking the Test
• 🔚 After the Test

1. 📅 Test-Taking Strategies: Planning

2. 🤓 test-taking tips: preparing for the test, 3. ❓ test-taking tips: different types of questions.

If your test includes a mix of different question types, make sure you prepare for them, and learn strategies to help you with each one. Even if it’s a learning style test that doesn’t need any real preparation, you still need to know what to expect from it.

3.1. Test-taking Tips for a Multiple-choice Test

• Read the questions carefully. Check whether each asks you to choose one or multiple answers.
• Try to think of the answer to the question . Do that before looking at the options. It will help you make sure that the other options don’t influence your response.
• Guess the answers if you’re not sure . Don’t forget to take a little mark next to the question so that you can recheck it if you have time.

3.2. Test-taking Tips for a Short-answer Test

• Read the questions carefully. Underline the keywords (e.g., define, compare, analyze, argue, etc.).
• Don’t write more than you need to answer the question . But if you think your answer may not be precise enough, add a little more to make sure that you get your point across.
• Use the keywords from the question in your answer.

3.2. Test-taking Tips for an Essay Test

• Read the questions carefully . Then write down a rough outline. It will help you stay on track and avoid including unnecessary information.
• Answer each of the questions in your first sentence . Then provide supporting evidence to support your answer. Don’t start writing before you have a clear idea of your answer.
• Start with the most important points first . This is especially important if you’re running out of time.
• Double-space . You need space to edit your answer afterward if you notice mistakes or want to add something.

4. 🌚 Test-Taking Tips: the Night Before the Test

5. ✍️ best tips for taking the test, 6. 🔚 test-taking tips: after the test.

• Take note of how you can improve next time. After the test, while it’s still fresh in your mind, think about what you can do differently next time.
• Celebrate! After all of that hard work, take some time to relax and celebrate with your friends and family. You may not have much time to celebrate just yet if you have more tests, but remember to take a break before you start preparing for the next one, especially if you have another one the next day.

Good luck with your tests! We hope you found these test-taking tips useful and that they help to reduce some of your stress. If you have any tips to add, please share them in the comments.

🔗 References

• Summary sheets | Tumblr
• 10 Failsafe Test-Taking Tips | Psychology Today
• Test-Taking: Tips | Academic Success Center | Oregon State University
• Test Taking Skills | School of Medicine
• Test Taking Tips | University of Minnesota Crookston
• Test-Taking Skills – BrainPOP
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ACT Test Prep

Delivered by experts and designed to fit every learning style, budget, and schedule., want to improve your act score get helpful tips and strategies with official act test prep products., free act practice test and test prep resources.

Your free, ultimate guide to the ACT test is here! Your free practice test resources includes:

• A full-length practice test (including writing prompt).
• An overview of the ACT test and what to expect on test day.
• General test-taking strategies to bring your best self to test day.

Why Test Prep Matters

Know what to expect on test day and be 100% confident.

The Official ACT Live Online Class, Powered by Kaplan

A team of top-rated teachers who scored in the 99th percentile on the ACT test , show students what to study and how to study during a series of engaging live classes. Get all of your questions answered in real time.  Learn more about ACT Live Online .

Want to try before you buy? Sign up for a FREE class!

The official act self-paced course, powered by kaplan.

Learn anywhere, anytime with on-demand tutorials. These bite-sized lessons offer the perfect mix of structure and flexibility. Learn more about ACT Self-Paced Course .

The Official ACT Tutoring, Powered by Kaplan 

Learn test content and test-day strategies in individual tutoring sessions led by an expert from Kaplan, who will adapt to your needs in real time, answer your questions, and provide you with personalized recommendations.  Learn more about ACT Tutoring.

(You will be asked to log in or create an account to purchase these products.)

The Official ACT Prep and Subject Guides 2024-2025 Complete Set

Get everything you need to do your best on the ACT test with The Official ACT Prep & Subject Guides 2024-2025 Complete Set. With NINE practice exams and hundreds of questions direct from the creators of the ACT, this set delivers maximum practice in one convenient package to help you improve your understanding of each subject —and helps you save big on prep. 

The Official ACT Prep Guide 2024-2025 Edition

This ACT prep book offers 9 full-length practice tests, 400+ digital flashcards, and provides clear explanations for every answer to help you improve your understanding of each subject.  Learn more about the Prep Guide .

ACT Official Subject Guides – 2nd Edition

The Official ACT Subject Guides are individual prep books perfect for students who want to practice a specific subject to improve their test scores. With 200 new questions and explanations in each subject!  Learn more about the Subject Guides.

Did you know that only with the ACT, for certain test dates you can request a copy of your questions and answers to use as prep for your next ACT test?

During the registration process and for up to 6 months after your test, you can request a copy of your questions and answers (referred to as Test Information Release or TIR) from three test dates a school year. If you've already tested during one of the dates, simply login to your MyACT account to purchase your TIR, or you can order it during the registration process.  

Your TIR is a great tool to improve your score if you plan to retest: more students improved their scores—and by a greater amount—after purchasing their TIR than students who did not participate in TIR or other test prep. 

ACT Test Guide 2024-2025

Maybe you've been planning your future for years. Maybe you're ready to start exploring opportunities. Wherever life takes you, ACT will help you get there.

This guide was designed to make understanding all things ACT as simple as possible. With information about ACT test dates, fee waivers, and test prep, you'll find everything you need to succeed on test day.

*The dates in this document are subject to change. The most up-to-date information is available through your MyACT account.   

Get the FREE ACT Test ® Guide for 2024-2025

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