Many students feel that school is a breeze in the early years of their academic careers. They fly through their homework, ace their class tests, and manage to maintain stellar grades with minimal effort. Yet as students progress through school, the testing demands rise quickly, and it becomes increasingly challenging to rely on their natural-born intelligence as a sole driver of academic success. Help your child improve his test taking skills and learn to ace true false, multiple choice, and essays exams with the strategies detailed below.

True/False

Many teachers include a significant number of true/false questions as part of their self-created tests. While students may prefer this type of exam question, thinking the odds of answering correctly are in their favor, these questions are not always simple or straightforward. In fact, several strategies can help students answer true/false questions correctly:

-True/False Strategy 1: Turn the true/false statement into a question. If your answer is “yes” then the test question is probably true. If your answer is no, then the test question is probably false.

For example: Grocery stores sell fruit.

We can turn this statement into a question: Do grocery stores sell fruit? Since the answer is yes, this test question is probably true.

-True/False Strategy 2: The ‎entire statement must be true in order for the answer to be true.

For example: You can eat pasta with a fork but you cannot eat chicken with your fingers.

The first past of this statement is true (you can eat pasta with a fork) but the second part is false, since you can eat chicken with your fingers! Thus, the answer is false.

-True/False Strategy 3: Learn true/false “clue words” to help you choose the correct answer. “Soft” clue words, including often, probably, sometimes, might, may, or frequently, indicate that the answer is probably true. “Hard” clue words, including no, never, none, always, all, or every, indicate that the answer is probably false.

For example: People often make mistakes.

Often is a soft clue word. In this case, the answer is true.

Multiple Choice

As students move through school, they will encounter multiple choice questions on both in-class exams and just about every standardized test that they will take. Learning specific strategies for how to best tackle them can be helpful for years to come.

Multiple Choice Strategy 1: Eliminate “oddballs,” or answers that seem different from the other choices.

For example: _______ is a summer month.

a) November
b) February
c) July
D) The Beach

Clearly choice D (The Beach)‎ is not even a month and is therefore the “oddball,” so the student would eliminate that choice.

Multiple Choice Strategy 2: Answer the question in your head before looking at the choices.

For example: A ___ is used to open cans.

a) Knife sharpener
b) Can opener
c) Ice cream scooper
d) Serving spoon

Before looking at the choices, the student should determine in her mind that can opener is probably the right answer in this case, then look for the correct choice.

Multiple Choice Strategy 3: Underline key words while reading the question. Certain words give clues to the correct answer, such as except, only, not, never, best, or cannot.

For example: All of the following are sports except:

A) Hockey
B) Soccer
C) Studying
D) Rugby

In this case, it is important for the student to read the word except, or incorrect answers may be selected.

Essays 

In-class exams and standardized tests often require students to write an essay, frequently based on a prompt, like:  “Compare and contrast living in the country and living in the city” or “Persuade your friend to choose basketball as a sport over soccer.”

Encourage your child to try some of these strategies when answering essay tests:

Essay Strategy 1: Underline the directive, which explains how to answer the prompt. Directives include words such as examine, analyze, compare, contrast, discuss, and persuade. Then rewrite the prompt in your own words to ensure that y‎ou understand what the tester is asking.

Essay Strategy 2: Create a brainstorm web for your essay. Make sure you include your thesis statement in the web, which sets the plan for your essay and should be the last sentence of your introduction paragraph.

Essay Strategy 3: Self-check your essay! Try the CTOPS checklist for self-checking, which stands for Capitalization, Tense (consistent past or present tense), Organization, Punctuation, and Spelling.

As your child moves through school, she will encounter increasingly complex tests. Encourage her to try these strategies and she will be well on her way to acing all types of exams.

The post Best Test Taking Strategies for Students appeared first on EBL Coaching.

For many fourth grade students, the thought of enduring a three-day-long statewide math exam gives them more jitters than a trip to the dentist. Most would rather wash dishes every night than endure this dreaded test. Yet for any fourth grade student attending a New York public school, this test is mandatory.

The right test taking strategies, however, can help put this anxiety to rest.

The New York State Fourth Grade Mathematics exam, given over a three-day period from March 6-8, helps determine whether students are meeting grade level learning standards. The test consists of three types of questions: multiple choice, short open-ended, and long open-ended. These questions are designed to test students’ content abilities and thinking skills.

To perform well on this exam, students should become comfortable with the format of this test and the different types of questions that may be asked. They can then learn strategies for how to best solve each of these kinds of questions. In particular, students may see the following problems on the test: Representation, Communication, Reasoning and Proof, and Problem Solving.

Representation

Representation problems typically involve pictures, charts, graphs, figures, or patterns. They ask students to create a drawing to describe a mathematical concept or to choose a drawing from a series of choices which best represents a given concept. To best solve these problems, students must learn to identify key words. Certain key words, such as “draw”, “create”, “label”, and “shade”, help students identify Representation problems. An example may be as follows:

Jack’s garden is a rectangle that is 40 feet long and 65 feet wide. Draw a rectangle to represent the garden. Label the length of each side.

The student should underline the word draw, since that is the key word which indicates that this problem requires the student to draw a representation of the figure.

Communication

Communication problems ask students to communicate an idea or concept. They may ask a student to explain how they came up with an answer or why their answer must be true. Students may be asked to express a mathematical concept in their own words using proper mathematical terminology. To develop proficiency with these types of problems, students should practice communicating mathematical ideas in their own words prior to the test. A sample problem may be as follows:

Two lines are perpendicular. What must be true about them?

To properly answer this question, students must be able to express the definition of perpendicular lines in their own words and relay the properties associated with this mathematical concept. The more practice expressing different concepts, the easier these questions will be.

Reasoning and Proof

Reasoning and Proof problems involve logical thinking. Students must use reasoning skills to prove whether a given statement is true or false. For example:

Richard makes 24 pounds of peanut brittle. He decides to put an equal amount of brittle into 5 boxes. He thinks each box will hold 5 pounds. Is his estimation reasonable? Explain why or why not.

A good strategy for answering Reasoning and Proof questions is to begin with a general statement. This statement should briefly describe the answer, such as “Richard’s estimation is reasonable.” Next, students should provide evidence of their answer. For example, “24 rounds up to 25, and 25 divided by 5 is 5. Thus, Richard’s estimation is likely to be true.” Parents can give students sample questions like this one and can replace the numbers in each problem for extra practice.

Problem Solving

Problem Solving questions ask students to analyze a scenario and come up with a solution. They involve more than just recalling a concept or crunching numbers. Rather, students must think, plan, and solve. Specifically, students should use the ORAS strategy, as detailed below:

Operation: Students should decide if the problem requires a specific operation or a combination of a few operations. For example, the problem may require addition, multiplication, or both. Students should indicate the relevant operation(s) with the proper symbol(s).

Relevant Information: Students should underline any numbers that are relevant to solving the problem. They should also cross out any numbers that are irrelevant to solving the problem.

Arithmetic Sentence: Students should create an arithmetic sentence that can be used to solve the problem.

Solution Sentence: Students should come up with a solution to the problem as a full sentence in their minds.

For example:

Lisa and her two friends went to a candy store. The price of gummy bears was $3 per pound, the price of chocolate squares was $5 per pound, and the price of butterscotch candies was $2.50 per pound. Each of them wanted two pounds of gummy bears and two pounds of chocolate squares. In total, they had $50. How much money did they have left over for drinks after purchasing their candy?

Students should use the ORAS strategy detailed above to solve this problem. They should make sure to cross out the $2.50, a number that is irrelevant to solving the problem. Parents can create similar problems to the one detailed above and create four lines underneath each problem for each step in the ORAS strategy, so that students can practice problem solving at home.

The fourth grade mathematics test can indeed cause anxiety and lead to sleepless nights. Yet the right strategies and lots of practice can help ease these fears and make the test day more welcoming.

The post Get Ready for the 4th Grade NYC Math Test! appeared first on EBL Coaching.