Test Taking

Strategies for Answering Multiple Choice Questions

• Determine what the question is asking by identifying key words in the stem.
  
  
• Read all of the choices and eliminate any distracters (i.e. obvious incorrect answers).
  
  
• Generally, do not choose an answer choice with overly technical language.
  
  
• Consider the longest answer choice as possibly being the correct answer.
  
  
• Choose between two related terms rather than two unrelated terms.
  
  
• If you have a difficult time deciding between two close answers, try using the true/false technique. Read the stem using both answer choices and try to determine which one makes a more true statement.
  
  
• In most cases, do not choose an answer choice that contains an extreme word (all, always, none, never, etc.).
  
  
• If you must guess, a middle answer (B, C, or D) is often a better choice than the first or last answer choice.
  
  
• "All of the above" is often the correct answer choice.
  
  
• "None of the above" is usually not the correct answer choice.

Susan Ziegert, University of Wisconsin – Waukesha, Test Taking: Strategies for Answering Multiple Choice Questions