1) Getting enough sleep, eating healthy foods, exercising, staying hydrated, and managing stress and anxiety are important for test-taking performance. 2) During a test, carefully read and follow all directions. Budget your time and answer easy questions first before returning to harder ones. Narrow down multiple choice answers by eliminating unlikely options. 3) Review your answers before submitting. Only change answers if you're confident a different choice is better. Think positively to boost your confidence and score. Reward yourself after for doing your best.

1. Test-Taking Tips

2. Sleep Well
If you sleep well, your body – including your brain – will
perform better. Getting too much or too little sleep can
negatively affect testing performance. So how much sleep
should you get?
AGE HOURS OF SLEEP
9-16 10
It’s especially important before tests/quizzes that your body
and mind are in prime condition. Sleeping well is an
important part of that.

3. Eat Well
Brain cells need twice as much energy as the other cells of your
body. A brain uses a fuel called glucose which is a type of
sugar. It can’t store it, so it gets it from your blood. Your blood
gets glucose from the foods you eat. If you want to think well,
your brain needs a steady supply of glucose. That’s why eating
well – especially before tests/quizzes– is so important.
Natural foods provide a slow release of sugar into your blood.
Processed or refined foods provides a fast release of sugar. It is
usually better for your body to have a slow and steady release of
sugar.

4. Movement & Breathing
A little aerobic movement before tests and quizzes pumps your
brain full of BDNF, which helps connections between synapses in
your brain to work more effectively.
Take a brisk walk down the hallway in between your class
period to get your blood pumping and get oxygen to your
brain!

5. Keep Hydrated
Your brain is approximately 80% water. You become restless
and have scattered attention when you are mildly dehydrated;
slow and lethargic when severely dehydrated.
Drinking plenty of water improves brain
functioning. Soft drinks, fruit juices, teas and
coffee do not hydrate nearly as well as pure
water.

6. Snacks for Fuel and Memory
If you are taking a test and haven’t eaten in a while, you might
want to give your brain an instant boost of glucose. This can be
done with a snack. Certain foods also help your mind focus and
sharpen your memory.
Bananas, popcorn, even candy (especially
peppermint) will work to give your brain
glucose.
In a recent study, those who chewed gum or
smelled peppermint before test-taking were able
to concentrate better. Ask your teacher if this is
allowed!

7. Relax
Feeling relaxed and stress-free is very important to perform best.
When your body is stressed, certain chemicals are released by the
body. Those chemicals cause a fight or flight reaction. They
quicken breathing, tighten muscles, raise blood pressure. It
makes it difficult to calmly and carefully concentrate on a test or
quiz.
Here are some ideas you can do to help yourself during
tests or quizzes :
1. Be active and get some exercise beforehand.
2. Before starting, stretch your muscles and breath slowly.
3. Ask your teacher to play relaxing music during the test or
quiz. (Baroque music is ideal for testing)
4. Visualize a calm place or something you like to do.

8. Pretend You’re Alone
Distractions are a big reason why many test takers don’t
perform at their best. Hopefully your classroom setting is very
quiet and comfortable. There shouldn’t be a lot of movement or
loud talking.
Try not to look at anyone around you. Don’t speak to other test-
takers or respond to others speaking to you during the test.
One of the biggest problems for test-takers is worrying about
what others are doing around them. It doesn’t matter how far
the others are on their tests. Focus only on what YOU are doing.

9. Have your materials
ready..
 Bring at least two pencils with good erasers and any other
resources that your teacher allows.
 Keep your eyes on your own paper, you don't want to
appear to be cheating and cause unnecessary trouble for
yourself.
 Write legibly. If the teacher can't read what you wrote,
they'll most likely mark it wrong.
 Double check to make sure that you put your first and last
name on the test.

10. Follow Directions
Missing questions on tests simply because you didn’t read or
listen to directions is avoidable! Your teacher will give
important information and directions about your test.
Listening carefully and knowing exactly what to do helps you
feel confident and comfortable. Ask your teacher for
clarification if you don't understand what they are asking for
on the test.
You will be required to READ the directions of sections of your
test or quiz. Often a new section will completely change
directions from the previous section. Don’t let them trick you!
READ the directions and look for 2-3 part questions!

11. Pace Yourself
When you first receive your test, do a quick survey of the
entire test so that you know how to efficiently budget
your time. One of the biggest mistakes made by test-takers is
rushing through questions like it’s a race. Go slowly.
Complete the easy questions first, and then tackle the harder
questions. If you find you’re spending too much time on any one
question, skip it and finish as many of the others as you can.
Leave a few minutes at the end for making quick intelligent
choices on the questions you didn’t answer. Answer all
questions! Don’t leave any question blank.

12. Skip When Stuck
Whether the test is timed or not, it’s a good strategy to answer
the easy questions first and skip some of the harder questions
for later. This builds your confidence and gets you in a groove.
Once you’re done answering the easy questions, go back and
answer all of the hard questions that you skipped. Your goal
should be to carefully answer every question using your best
judgment.

13. Narrow Down Choices
Many tests have multiple choices. After reading the question, try
to answer in your head BEFORE you even look at the choices.
Then see if you find a match right away. Even if you DO find a
match, read the other choices and look at the question again.
Make sure your first choice makes sense to you. Always read all
of the choices.
If you are unsure about an answer, don’t guess; try to narrow
down your choices by ignoring those that are probably not
correct and eliminate them. Then choose the very best choice of
what’s left.

14. Narrow Down -Practice Questions
1. What animal did Kate ride on her trip to Big Ranch?
(A) bull (B) horse (C) camel (D) elephant
2. What is the tropical island of Malupo best known for?
(A) bears (B) coconut trees
(C) glaciers (D) hot air balloon festivals
3. After putting on her sandals and hat, where did Margaret go?
(A) hiking the Ambien Trail
(B) rock climbing with her brother
(C) walking along Birdfield Beach
(D) bike riding by her house
Correct answers are on the next slide. See how you did.
Even though you haven’t read the passages that go along with
these questions, try to make the most intelligent choices.

15. Narrow Down - Question Answers
1. What animal did Kate ride on her trip to Big Ranch?
(A) bull (B) horse (C) camel (D) elephant
Why: Camels and elephants are not at ranches. Bulls can be dangerous to ride. The
most likely answer is horse.
2. What is the tropical island of Malupo best known for?
(A) bears (B) coconut trees
(C) glaciers (D) hot air balloon festivals
Why: The key word is “tropical.” Bears and glaciers are not common on tropical
islands, however, coconut trees are. That would be a better choice than hot air balloon
festivals.
3. After putting on her sandals and hat, where did Margaret go?
(A) hiking the Ambien Trail (B) rock climbing with her
brother
(C) walking along Birdfield Beach (D) bike riding
Why: It would be uncomfortable wearing sandals while rock climbing, hiking, and bike
riding. The best choice would be walking along Birdfield Beach.

16. You May Change Answers
If you have time, you should always go
back to review the answers you selected.
Don’t be afraid to change answers if you
feel they are wrong.
New research has shown that test-takers
that review and update some of their
answers tend to do better than those who
don’t. But be careful. You should only
change answers if you are confident that
the new answer is a better choice.

17. Use QRQ
On reading comprehension passages, you should do the following:
• Read through the Questions FIRST
• Then Read the passage
• Finally, Answer the Questions
That is the QRQ strategy. Studies have shown that test-takers
that follow QRQ score higher than those that don’t.
Using QRQ only takes a little more time and it’s such an easy
thing to do. QRQ should be done whenever there are reading
passages and questions.

18. Use Scratch Paper
Math often requires computation and
calculation. Although some problems can
be figured out mentally, certain problems
have multiple steps and regrouping. They
should always be carefully written out.
When you write out math problems, remember to write
neatly and align your numbers in neat columns for more
accurate calculation. If your answer doesn’t match the
choices, check first to see if you wrote the problem down
correctly and then try again.

19. Think Positively
Studies have shown that those who think
positively do better on assessments. On the days
you have tests/quizzes, say to yourself “I will do
well. I am prepared. I know these things.”
If you repeat these in your mind over and over
before the test, you will perform better. Positive
thinking is very powerful!

20. Reward Yourself
Before you begin any test or quiz, you should think
of a reward you can give yourself after for a job
well done. It could be very simple such as a treat,
extra TV time, a visit to a fun place, extra time
with friends or family, etc.
Believe in yourself. You’ve done the hard work,
now show what you know! You can do this, you
know you can!