Top 5 Grad School
Test-Taking Strategies by Mark Rowh
Sometimes you just can’t avoid grad school admission tests. Make sure you’re prepared for these important exams with these five smart test-taking tips.
T
hey say you can’t avoid death and taxes. For students heading to grad school, you can add tests to the list, from exams leading to pro-
gram admission to the tests required in individual courses. Obviously, you want to do well in any testing situation. But how can you make the most of these common (some would say too common) occurrences? Here are a few helpful tactics.
1. Take practice tests Just as great pianists or free-throw shooters develop their skills through repetitive practice, effective test- takers benefit from repeating the experience. For stan- dardized tests such as the Graduate Record Examina- tions (GRE) and Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), you can benefit from books that include practice tests as well as tips on taking them. Guides such as Kaplan’s GRE Prep Plus and The Princeton
Review’s GMAT Premium Prep are available in book- stores and online. As an alternative, check out websites that provide
test prep info. At
4Tests.com, you can take a variety of practice exams at no cost. While some are targeted to high school students, there’s also a section featuring the GRE General, GMAT, LSAT, and MCAT. Similarly,
TestPrepReview.com offers educational, computer, and professional exams. These include practice exams for nursing (NCLEX), teaching (Praxis), human resources (PHR and SPHR), and more. Even tackling short “free- bies” such as online vocabulary quizzes can help make you more comfortable with the overall process of taking tests.
2. Prepare Nothing beats good preparation when it comes to testing, so be sure to put in the necessary study time.
Articles & Advice
For in-class exams, read all assigned materials then look over headings, bold-faced items, and other info that's been highlighted to show its importance. Also review any notes you have taken. For standardized tests, bone up on areas where you may have a weak- ness or where some time has passed since you’ve studied a given subject area. This might include un- dergoing a math review or working through vocabu- lary exercises.
3. Anticipate Before taking any test, try to find out its format. Then adjust to the type of questions posed and take your- self right back to the first tip: practice! Familiarize your- self with best practices when dealing with the partic- ular types of questions asked (i.e., save the hardest questions for last, or focus on the first and last para- graphs of longer reading passages). There are many
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