Answering questions

Answer the questions with your own words first before you look at the multiple choice options. Test creators will intentionally throw in "distractor" answers. Read the question. Answer the question using your own words. Compare your answer choices to the multiple-choice options. If you don't see an answer choice that matches up with your answer then go back and reread a portion of the text to look for different evidence.

Multiple Choice Questions

Read the questions before reading the passage

Highlight key phrases in the questions and find and highlight the same ones in the passages. Highlight any parts of the passages that would be helpful answering the questions.

Multiple-Choice Questions

• Read the question carefully. Look for “gotcha” words like “not” or “except,” and ensure you know exactly what’s being asked.

• Consider all the answer choices before making your final choices -- think carefully about "all of the above" answer choice.

• Flag it and come back later.

• Choose the one that seems best (it is better to pick something than to leave a question blank) and move on so you can finish the whole test.

Multiple-Choice Questions

• Read the question in DCBA order. This way you can see all of your options.

​Pay attention to word choice in Questions

There are words used that can act as a clue and direct students to a specific section of text where they could find the answer. Or there might be a specific word used that could help students eliminate an answer choice.

Word Choice

•  The question is telling you where to go in the text to find the answer. You should return to this portion of the text. It’s important for students to realize that there might be other pieces of evidence that you could use to answer this question, but the test creator only wants you to use the information located in a certain section of text.

​Based on/According to

• You need to determine the highest quality option or the answer choice that is better than the others. This means that there might be TWO answer choices that could be correct, but students are being asked to select the BEST.

Most or Best

Word Choice

When you see these words they are a clue that you are looking for a detail in the text that is connected to the idea mentioned in the question. You are basically looking for the text evidence that supports what is mentioned in the question.

Suggests or Supports

Vocabulary Strategies

• Substitute each answer choice in the sentence for context clues questions. Then select the one that makes the most sense within the context of the text.

• Break down unknown words into known word parts. This could be looking for root words and affixes.

• Make connections to other known words. For example if you knows the word circle, it can help them read and understand words such as semicircle and circulate.