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Read Exam Questions Carefully

Take notes and answer questions here.

Review

In “Prepare for Exams,” you learned strategies for taking exams successfully. Share an example of something you do that helps you when you take exams.

Learn

Sometimes the most difficult part of an exam is understanding what the questions are asking you to do. You may remember the mathematics skills you have learned in school, but you may not know which skill to use to answer a mathematics word problem on an exam. You may have understood a reading passage in an exam, but you may not know which part of the passage is important to reread to answer a question about the text.

To help you in situations like these, it is important to read each exam question carefully and understand what it is asking you to do. Here are some ideas to help you:

• Use your hand or a piece of paper to cover the possible answers below the question. This will help you focus on the question and not be distracted by wrong answers.

• Read confusing questions more than once to ensure you understand them. Reading through questions too quickly can cause you to make mistakes.

• Stop and think after reading each part of a long question. Understanding the smaller parts of a question may help you find the answer.

• Answer written response or essay questions completely. Reread each question to make sure you have answered all parts of the question, and review your written answers.

Sometimes there are important words in questions that tell you exactly what to look for in the answers. Here is a list of important words to remember and ways in which these words might be used in questions:

• best: Look for the best answer to this question.

• all: What are all of the possible solutions to this question?

• least: Which of the following is the least likely to happen?

• except: All of these answers are correct except for…

• not: Which of these answers is not discussed in the passage?

Activity

Use the strategies above to practice answering the following questions, and discuss the strategy you used.

1. Read the question below. Why would it be important to reread it to make sure you answer it correctly?

   Martin ate 4/6 of a cake. Jacob ate 5/6 of a different cake. Martin ate more cake than Jacob. How is this possible?

   After first reading this question, you may think it is necessary to do a math equation to find the answer. However, if you reread the question carefully, you will realize that the reader is not told how large the cakes are. It is only possible for Martin to have eaten more cake than Jacob if his cake was larger. Carefully reading the question helped you find this answer.

2. Read the question below. Look for key words that will help you answer the question correctly.

   Samuel the Lamanite prophesied the signs of Christ’s death. Which was not one of the signs included in Samuel’s words?

   1. darkness

   2. flooding

   3. thunderings and lightnings

   4. shaking of the earth

   In this example, the word “not” is very important. You are looking for the answer that does not show one of the signs of Jesus Christ’s death. The answer to this question is b. flooding, which was not a sign prophesied by Samuel.

3. The question below is a written response or essay question. How many different parts of this question are there?

   • What is the main problem in the novel Oliver Twist? How is this problem resolved? What does the main character learn in the novel?

   There are three parts to this question. It is important to read written response or essay questions very carefully so that you can answer all of the parts of the question.

Talk with Your Family

Talk with your family about the exam-taking skills you learned today. Are there other things your parents or siblings have done to be successful on exams?