Page 247 - Keys To Community College Success

Matching Questions

Matching questions ask you to match the terms in one list with the terms in another
list. For example, the directions may tell you to match a communicable disease with the
microorganism that usually causes it. The following strategies will help you handle
these questions.
■ Make sure you understand the directions. The directions tell you whether each
answer can be used only once (common practice) or more than once.
■ Work from the column with the longest entries. The column on the left usually
contains terms to be defined or questions to be answered, while the column on the
right has definitions or answers. As a result, entries on the right are usually longer
than those on the left. Reading those items only once will save time.
■ Start with the matches you know. On your first run-through, pencil in these matches.
■ Finally, tackle the matches of which you’re not sure. Think back to your class
lectures, text notes, and study sessions as you try to visualize the correct response.
If one or more phrases seem to have no correct answer and you can use answers
only once, consider the possibility that one of your sure-thing answers is wrong.

Fill-in-the-Blank Questions
Fill-in-the-blank questions, also known as sentence completion questions, ask you
to supply one or more words or phrases. These strategies will help you make suc-
cessful choices.

■ Be logical. Insert your answer, then reread the sentence from beginning to end to
be sure it makes sense and is factually and grammatically correct.
■ Note the length and number of the blanks. If two blanks appear right after one
another, the instructor is probably looking for a two-word answer. If a blank is
longer than usual, the correct response may require additional space.
■ If there is more than one blank and the blanks are widely separated, treat each
one separately. Answering each as if it is a separate sentence-completion question
increases the likelihood that you will get at least one answer correct.
■ If you are uncertain, guess. Have faith that after hours of studying, the correct
answer is somewhere in your subconscious mind and that your guess is not
completely random.
Test Taking

The following examples show the kinds of fill-in-the-blank questions you might encounter in an
introductory psychology course (correct answers follow questions):

1. Information we encounter is first received by the . (sensory registers)
2. According to the , information in memory naturally fades over time. (decay theory)
3. We can generally hold five to nine bits of information in . (short-term memory)
4. People use when they recall how to use equipment or follow a recipe.
(procedural memory)

Essay Questions

Essay questions ask you to express your knowledge and views in a less structured way
than short-answer questions. With freedom of thought and expression comes the chal-
lenge to organize your ideas and write well under time pressure. These steps are a
shortened version of the writing process (see Appendix A)—will help you plan, draft,
revise, and edit your responses.

209