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Step 3.
Using your recall patterns as a guide, select the four questions
that you think you can answer best.
Step 4.
Establish a time schedule for the rest of your test.
Let’s carry the above example a little further. You have two hours to
do your essay exam, and you’ve already spent about a half hour
getting settled and doing your slash recall patterns on all seven of the
questions. Also, you’ve selected the four questions you’re actually
going to answer.
What do you do with the remaining hour and a half? First,
determine the total number of minutes remaining, a figure which
you’ll quickly calculate to be ninety minutes.
Now, set aside twenty minutes to postview your answers, or check
them over for spelling, style and general sense at the end of the test
period.
That leaves you with seventy minutes to write your essays. So divide
that seventy minutes by four (the number of questions you have to
answer), and you’ll find that you have just under eighteen minutes for
each question.
Step 5.
Begin to write, using your recall pattern as a guide.
You may find that you’ll have to add a few points to your recall
patterns as you start to draft your answers, but only spend a second or
two making a notation on the pattern as a reminder. Your main
purpose now is to get that essay down on paper.
As you write, organize your answer as simply as possible. It’s
usually best to divide the essay into three parts: a brief introduction; a
body, containing all the major points and supporting facts; and a brief
conclusion, which may consist of a summary of the major points and a
final statement of your personal opinion.
It’s very important at this stage to stay within the time limits you’ve
set for yourself. Most students who fail to establish a time schedule
spend more time on the first question or two than they do on the
others. As a result, they run out of time at the end—and get lower
grades.
It’s all right to exceed by a minute or two the time limit you’ve set
on a question. You may want to finish an important thought, and you
do have some leeway because you’ve built in a twenty-minute time
cushion at the end of the test. But don’t encroach too much on your
schedule. Otherwise, you may find you don’t have any time at the end
to revise, edit and postview your answers.
Think about it this way: If you write five minutes too long on each
of your four questions, that will take up twenty minutes, or the entire
time you had set aside for your postviewing. Or if, as many students
do, you really neglect your time discipline and run over by ten to
twelve minutes on each of the first three essays, you won’t have any
time at all to write the final essay.
Some students, on hearing this advice about the time management
of essay tests, object, “But why organize things so that you have less
than eighteen minutes to write each of the four questions? After all,
the test lasts for two hours—why not spend a half hour on each
question?”
Again, think about the entire procedure we’ve just been through:
First, you’ve actually spent more than eighteen minutes on each
question because you’ve devoted the first half hour to thinking about
each of the questions and writing recall patterns. Also, by doing an in-
depth evaluation of each of the questions, you’ve put yourself in the
strongest position to pick the best four.
Imagine how deflating and frustrating it can be to write four essays
and be completely out of time—but then to realize that you should
have picked one of the other questions. Sometimes, students come to
this depressing realization after they’ve left the exam hall, and they
spend hours or even days in self-recrimination: “Why didn’t I
think
in
that exam? Why didn’t I read all those questions carefully?”
The approach I’m suggesting will greatly reduce the possibility that
you’ll be plagued by such second thoughts.
Step 6.
Postview and edit your essays.
During the final twenty minutes you’ve set aside, proofread each
essay for correct grammar, spelling and punctuation. Incomplete
sentences, omitted words and misspellings will detract from your
grade.
Also, during this phase you may discover you’ve omitted a key
point. But there’s no reason to panic. You have plenty of time, so just
go ahead and insert the missing item.
These suggested guidelines for taking tests aren’t by any means
intended to be the last word on this subject. There are a tremendous
number of helpful resources on the market that explain how to take all
sorts of exams, from those in the classroom to standardized tests like
the SAT.
The main point I’ve tried to get across here is this: The very same
tools and techniques that you’ve been learning for more effective
reading and study can also be applied to taking tests.
After all, you have to read all your examinations, even those on
technical or scientific topics. Also, you frequently have to draft
outlines for your answers, as when facing essay questions, and recall
patterns are made to order for this task.
Much of this book has focused on setting objectives, establishing
basic strategies and employing practical techniques for study. If you
can carry the same mind-set into a test situation, you should be
pleasantly impressed with the final results.
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