10_Secrets_High_School_Test
SECRETSTO ACINGANY HIGHSCHOOL TEST SECRETSTO ACINGANY HIGHSCHOOL TESTLee BrainerdANDRicki WinegardnerNEW YORK® Copyright © 2003 LearningExpress, LLC.All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York.Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:Brainerd, Lee Wherry.10 secrets to acing any high school test / Lee Brainerd and Ricki Winegardner—2nd ed.p. cm.Includes bibliographical references.ISBN 1-57685-437-X (pbbk.)1. Test-taking skills. 2. Examinations—Study guides. 3. Studyskills. I. Title: Ten secrets to acing any high school test. II. Winegardner,Ricki. III. Title.LB3060.57.B73 2003371.3'028'1—dc212002152872Printed in the United States of America9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Second EditionISBN 1-57685-437-XFor more information or to place an order, contact LearningExpress at:900 BroadwaySuite 604New York, NY 10003Or visit us at:www.learnatest.com Lee Wherry Brainerd is the author ofBasic Skills for Homeschooling and Home-schooling Your Gifted Child, and has editedand contributed to many books on topicsranging from healthcare to test prepara-tion. She lives in Altadena, California.Ricki Winegardner is the author of AParent’s Guide to 3rd Grade and A Parent’sGuide to 4th Grade, and coauthor of BasicSkills for Homeschooling. She is a producerfor AmericanBaby.com and lives inMcConnellsburg, Pennsylvania.ABOUTTHEAUTHORS Introduction ixSecret 1: Managing Time and Being Prepared 1Secret 2: Getting a Handle on Objective Testing 13Secret 3: Getting a Handle on Subjective Testing 33Secret 4: Mastering Your Study Environment 47Secret 5: Discovering Your Learning Style 59Secret 6: Creating and Implementing a Study Plan 77Secret 7: Getting the Most Out of Class 89Secret 8: Mastering the Materials 101Secret 9: Tackling Memory Tricks 117Secret 10: Preventing Test Stress 133Appendix A: State Board of Education Listings/Guide to High School Exit Exams by State 143Appendix B: Print Resources 149Appendix C: Online Resources 153CONTENTS INTRODUCTIONYour palms are sweaty, your stomach is in a knot, and you think youfeel a headache coming on. You even thought about staying in bedtoday instead of going to school. No, you don’t have the flu; youare simply on your way to take a test for which you feel ill-prepared. For-tunately, your symptoms can be cured! Mix some preparation with a fewtime management skills, wash it all down with a healthy mind and body,and, voila, you will feel better about test taking in no time!As a high school student, your days may seem to be filled with thesesmall inconveniences referred to as tests. A pop quiz in one class leads intoa major chapter test in another. Then, after you have gotten into the rou-tine of school test taking, you will be presented with standardized testing.Standardized tests are used by educational institutions and lawmakers togauge the overall proficiency of students in a given school or geographi-cal region. Perhaps the monsters of all tests are the college entrance examsthat you have heard so much about. Examples of college entry examsinclude the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) exam and the ACT Assess-ment. You are even required to take tests to enter the military or drive acar. During these high school years, it seems that tests are becoming morethan a fact of life; they are slowly taking over many facets of your every-day existence. In truth, tests are a fact of life, and if you lack the propertest-taking skills, life can be difficult.This book is designed to help you gain control over test stress and toprovide you with the skills necessary to become a more successful andconfident test taker. The ten secrets to taming even the most daunting and stressful of tests will be revealed to you in ten easy-to-reference chapters.Introductionix Secret #1: Managing Time and Being PreparedTime management is a skill that is referred to even in the corporate world.Gone are the lazy days of childhood when morning melted into afternoon,which somehow oozed into evening. As you and your responsibility loadhave grown, so have the expectations that you will learn to manage yourtime effectively. Early lessons in time management can be traced back towhen you were assigned a chore to be completed after school but beforedinner. Maybe you came home and unloaded the dishwasher immediately,or perhaps you waited until the last possible moment before the food wasplaced on the table. In either case, you were given a task and a block of timein which to perform that task, and it was up to you to make decisions abouthow you would manage your time.Effective time management will greatly reduce the stress you feel when walking into the classroom on test day. If you have used your timeeffectively, you will have studied and prepared yourself without unduestress.The skill that goes hand in hand with time management is preparation.No matter how efficient you are at managing your time, you will have dif-ficulty overcoming hurdles if you are not prepared. Preparation means cre-ating weekly study schedules to maximize your time. Preparation meansthat you have your #2 pencil with you, if required. Preparation means thatyou possess a basic idea of what to expect on the test, and it also means thatyou are always ready for the pop quizzes for which your science teacher hasbecome famous. Effectively managing your time to prepare for an exam ishalf the battle to becoming a more successful and confident test taker. Forthis reason, Secret #1 pairs both time management and preparednesstogether.Secret #2: Getting a Handle on ObjectiveTestingSeveral types of test will be administered to you during your high schooland post-high school career. You have probably already been exposed tomost, if not all, of the major styles of testing. When asked which kind oftest you prefer, you and many of your friends may answer that you preferobjective tests. Examples of objective test questions include:•multiple choice•true or falsex10 SECRETS TO ACING ANY HIGH SCHOOL TEST . guide to high school exams by state•print resources•online resourcesGood luck!xiv10 SECRETS TO ACING ANY HIGH SCHOOL TEST SECRETSTO ACINGANY HIGHSCHOOL TEST Managing. SECRETSTO ACINGANY HIGHSCHOOL TEST SECRETSTO ACINGANY HIGHSCHOOL TESTLee BrainerdANDRicki WinegardnerNEW YORK® Copyright