Test-Taking Strategy
SKIPPING DIFFICULT QUESTIONS
Not all the items on a test are equally difficult. Some are easier than others. It is important that you answer as many questions as you can. The best way to do this is to skip questions that are difficult and come back to them later. By doing this, you will be more likely to try all the questions. Remember, some of the questions at the end of a test might be easy, so it is important to try them before you run out of time.
Read the questions below.
Decide which one is easy and which one is difficult.
1. In the year A.D. 1, The world population was about 200 million. It just about doubled by A.D. 1000. By 1900, the population was estimated at more than one billion, but then jumped to two billion by 1930 and has continued to grow at a faster rate ever since. Which statement best describes the way the world population has changed since the year A.D. 1?
2. It is believed that the first people to reach the Americas arrived more than 10,000 years ago. They crossed a land bridge between Siberia and Alaska. This land bridge appeared during a period of cold called the Ice Age. So much water was frozen in glaciers and the polar ice caps that sea levels were lower than they are today. Which of these best compares the climate today and 10,000 years ago?
How to decide which question is more difficult:
Long questions are usually harder than short questions. However, both questions you looked at are about the same length. Things other than just length make one more difficult than the other.
* Number 1 contains a lot of numbers. They are confusing because they are dates and numbers, and the numbers are very large. It's hard to get a picture in your mind of the information in the question.
* Number 2 has only one number. It talks mostly about things you can understand easily, like geography and climate. It's easy to create a picture in your mind of mountains of ice and snow, a narrow piece of land, and people walking across the land bridge.
* The actual question for number 1 gives you little information. You will have to read all the answer choices. Because there is so much information in number 1, the answer choices will probably be long and confusing. This will make number 1 even harder to answer.
* The question for number 2 asks you think about something you already know, the climate today. It asks you to compare today's climate with the climate 10,000 years ago. You know it was colder then because this information is given. So, all you have to do is find the answer choice that says it was colder 10,000 years ago than it is now.
Number 2 is a much easier question. You should try to answer number 2 before you spend time trying to answer number 1.