Test Taking Tips

paige1

Test Taking Tips


1. Understand the question.

2. Do the simple questions first to help build up your confidence for the harder questions.

3. The decision to skip a question should be made very quickly, not after several minutes of attempting to answer. When moving through a timmed test, this is probably the most important to remember.

4 Even though answer "A" seems correct, read through "B", "C", and "D"

5. Answers with the words “always” and “never” are vague and can usually be discounted.

6. If any part of the question is false, then the entire statement is false, but just because part of a statement is true doesn't necessarily make the entire statement true.

7. Be careful, although Bps and bps look the same, they are not.

8. Tera-hertz, Megahertz and Gigahertz are all the same unit of measurement. Hertz.

9. Don't take lightly "True" of "False" questions.

Example: "The SMTP protocol is not an email delivery protocol on TCP port number 25"
(True. Yes, it is not. It's a transfer protocol).

10. Don't stay up all night studying. (You would not want to see a question like the one above without adequate sleep). Try to get a reasonable amount of sleep the night before the exam. If that's not possible, try to get a nap before the exam, or at least a short rest.

11. In "All of the above" and "None of the above" choices, if you are certain one of the statements is true don't choose "None of the above" or one of the statements are false don't choose "All of the above".

All who have taken (Sat, Written, etc.) jump in with any tips you can come up with.

zenboy

Excellent tips! If I may add a point or two.
The point to studying is to understand so you could apply those knowledge to real life situations. Exams only should test what you truly know, NOT what you could remember for the last few days/weeks/months. Once you have passed the Exams, your performance on the job in real life depends on what knowledge you have acquired through studying; memorizations of notes, answers, or ****-cheats without true understanding will only get you kicked out of the door and back into the job-searching-field.
I have studied for 10hrs/day for the last two weeks, read three books, studied four studied guides, and still studying. I'm confident I could pass the Network+. Then why not take the test now, you may asked?
As I was studying, I found more new informations that haven't been learned so I just keep studying. I think this would help me thoroughly understand the concepts of Networking so I could apply for future use.
My fear of not knowing how to perform on the job keeps me motivated to study more.
I guess this is my advice. Any others?

paige1

People study hard, take the test and are disappointed with their grade. The phrase "A pass is a pass" has to surfice. And for the people who have also studied hard only to miss by a few points. In both cases one, two, or three questions are making the difference. We have all picked the wrong answer at one time or another, not because we did not know the correct answer, but because we were nervous, tired, anxious, distracted, worried, etc.

qsub

The network exam has true or false questions? I don't remember getting any of those.

corey1980

The thing that helped me the most during the test was knowing what answers WERE NOT correct. It's great to be able to eliminate 2 possible answers out of 4 and then decide which 1 of the other 2 remaining answers are correct. This way even if you are not sure of the question, you give yourself a much greater chance of 'guessing' the answer correctly.

pipearce

Hello All

Good set of exam taking tips Paige1!

One I would like to add to your list is...Try to answer the question before looking at the multiple choice options.

Properly constructed Multiple Choice questions should allow this and finding what you believe is the correct answer in the options just re-enforces your choice.

Having said this, your tip 4 is still valid...you should always read all the Multiple Choice options.

Cheers, Paul

paige1

Now if only there were a cert for practice test taking...

Lotusgeek51

Go to the bathroom before your test. It pays to be as relaxed and comfortable as possible and having to pee in the middle of the exam from the 20oz coffee you downed an hour before is no fun.

I once rushed through a lotus exam in 17 minutes, clicked finish didnt care how I did, ran out the door and sprinted 100 yards down the hall to the bathroom to relieve an over full bladder. I passed, but it would have been much nicer to feel more relaxed and be able to take my time on the exam.

paige1

Go to the bathroom before your test. It pays to be as relaxed and comfortable as possible and having to pee in the middle of the exam from the 20oz coffee you downed an hour before is no fun.

Yeah, a coffee "push" is serious.