Test/Quiz Taking?

[Ohaider]

Other than studying, do you have any tips becoming better at test taking?

I ask because
AP music theory so far this year:
100% on every homework assignment, 100% on study guide, studied very hard, took test and just got test back today, 54%... Haha

[PrawnSkunk]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

I endorse cheating like a mother****er
whitetext means i'm not srs. just because you got 100% on hw assignments doesn't mean you get 100% on a test. obviously you were studying the wrong thing. ask your teacher personally what you could have done differently and reflect on that

[Reincarnate]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

Other than studying, do you have any tips becoming better at test taking?

I ask because
AP music theory so far this year:
100% on every homework assignment, 100% on study guide, studied very hard, took test and just got test back today, 54%... Haha

depends on why you got the 54%. are you getting questions wrong, getting too nervous, or just not finishing in time?

[UserNameGoesHere]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

Yes, I have doing better on test/quiz-specific information. No, don't cheat. No, this actually won't help you understand things better but will help you do better on tests/quizzes and isn't cheating.

1) Quick-Memorize any formulas/info/etc which will be needed like 5 minutes before the test/quiz. It'll be in short-term memory and you'll probably forget it right after, but should be good for the test/quiz.

2) If multiple-choice, work backwards from the possible "answers" to the question. Sometimes this is easier than solving it the "correct" way. Since only one answer will be right, you could try plugging them all in and seeing which it is.

3) Psychology. Try to think how your teacher thinks. Have you picked up any patterns in your teacher's thinking? If so it will highly likely be reflected in the test itself. Use these to your advantage and try to answer the way they want you to answer. Obviously not applicable to standardized testing or situations where you don't know the test/quiz creator very well.

[Cavernio]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

Holy crap, what did you do, mix-up all your key signatures?

[Ohaider]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

^ Nah it was more along the lines of ****ing up intervals (m3 M3 +5 etc) and SOME basic recall (naming octave registers on treble and alto clefs)

everyone i've asked just says study harder but I was pretty confident in the amount of time i studied, multiple days worth atleast, and the morning of


But i'm also having the same problem in foreign language. It's not so much recall as it is application in that though.

Edit: that's what i believe the main problem is, recall is no problem at all, it's appliance haha

[j-rodd123]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

for music theory just practise i guess, do lots of exercises, it's actually like the same thing everytime there's very little they can actually trick you with.

[Cavernio]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

Triple-check your work and get on that seeing the music written and being able to hear it. If you can do that you will never screw up your intervals again because you'll look at them and be like 'oh wait that sounds like crap'
I wish I could do that

Practice the language, listen to the language, read the language. Do this every single day. You cannot cram a language, it will never work. 15min each day will be better than 2 hours once a week. I suppose if you're just conjugating verbs in a list that's one thing, but that won't matter worth crap if you don't know what tense to use in a sentence.

[dAnceguy117]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

Memorizing key terms and ideas is important, but be sure to also work through problems similar to those you'll see on the test. Applying knowledge you've already learned to a scenario you've never experienced or even considered is deceptively tough. If you can limit the number of question types that catch you off guard, you should have a good chance to score well.

Generic test-taking tip: skim over the test right when you get it, and answer the easy ones first. Then you can spend all day whittling down possibilities on the tricky ones.

[Patashu]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

One thing I find helps is if you're having trouble remembering a rule because messing up one term of it messes up what you're doing (= no error correction), make up a mnemonic or little story about it that provides supporting evidence for why it's exactly that way, so you have to forget two things instead of one to mess up the rule.

this is where things like FACE = Space and Every Good Boy Deserves Fruit come from, and you can apply it to anything if you're sufficiently creative about it

[Emanresu13]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

Generic test-taking tip: skim over the test right when you get it, and answer the easy ones first. Then you can spend all day whittling down possibilities on the tricky ones.

definitely this, definitely defin- yes

[dore]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

I always found that if I could memorize and recite a study guide with all key points and practical examples, I could ace any test. If the teacher gives you a study guide, know it so well that you don't have to look at it to know everything on it. Make sure you can practically apply everything on there as well. Create your own study guide if the teacher doesn't give you one and do the same thing.

Another good way to practice is to explain the material to someone else. Even if they just nod and smile at you while you talk at them, it's a good dry run for organizing your thoughts in a way that will show others your mastery of the material.

[Frank Munoz]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

One of my teachers actually didn't even give us homework.
He just made us take quizzes and we either knew the stuff or didn't.

[TheSaxRunner05]

Re: Test/Quiz Taking?

If you have any specific music theory questions, PM me, I had A's in Music Theory I - IV