Test-Taking Strategies

7: Matching Questions Strategies

7 Matching Questions Strategies Few standardized tests include matching questions, but teachers often like them. Students who aren't floored by the sheer length of the lists they are given to match find it easy to pick up extra points by following these strategies. STRATEGY 1: READ THE DIRECTIONS Read all directions carefully. Find out whether you are supposed to use each answer only once or any number of times. Keep that in mind as you work. STRATEGY 2: FIND OUT WHICH COLUMN HAS THE LONGEST PHRASES Run your eye down both of the columns you have to match. Figure out which one has the longest phrases, in general. You'll save time by working your way down that column, which means you'll be rereading terms in the column with the shortest entries. 47 48 TEST-TAKING STRATEGIES STRATEGY 3: DO THE EASY MATCHES FIRST Work your way down one column, matching just the ones you know immediately. Especially if each answer can be used just once, match only the ones you are sure of the first time through. Otherwise, if you have to change any of them later, you may be forced to change a bunch all at once. Even on tests that let you use answers more than once, draw a light pencil line through each choice you use. STRATEGY 4: DO THE TOUGHER MATCHES NEXT After your first run-through, go back and figure out answers for the ones you aren't so sure of. Look for clues that give away the right answers. Try to find relationships between words in one column and those in the other. For example, while trying to match the name of a group in one column, you may find a synonym for part of its name in the other column: "Securities and Exchange Commission" in column A; "stock market overseer" in column B. (For other specific clue techniques, turn back to strategies 2 through 7, Chapter 5.) On the stumpers, try to visualize where in your notes you may have seen those phrases. That alone might help you rule out or single out certain possible matches. If each phrase can only be used once, you can confine your search to the matches you haven't used yet. But even in multiple-use tests, give first priority to the unused choices; if they don't seem to make a match, then consider the choices you have already used. ...