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Quick Steps for Passing a Test
I. Be positive!
    A. Passing this test is going to help you.
    B. Work hard!
II. Improve your study skills.
    A. Use study aids like The Quick Notes Learning System.
    B. Review often for short periods of time in a quiet place.
III.Test Taking Tips
    A. Follow your normal routine before the test. If this means going to the
         Friday night dance then go, but don't stay out too late.
    B. Arrive a little early.
    C. Read test directions carefully.
    D. Use your time wisely.
      1. Don't spend a long time on one problem.
      2. If necessary, guess or write a short answer to difficult questions and
          mark them for more work.
    E. Answer all questions stating the answer clearly. There is a subconscious
         tendency for graders to grade messy papers lower than neat papers.
    F. Redo difficult problems
    G. Check all answers
    H. Change answers only if you are sure of the new answer. Studies show
         first answers are correct more often than changed answers.

Professor A's Advice on Earning High Grades
 
1) Test taking begins at the beginning of a course when a student should find out the type of test the professor will use. Multiple choice is different than essay tests and math tests are different than history tests because they require you improve your problem solving ability by doing assigned homework.
2) Then find out the material being tested. Are the test on the lecture notes and are the notes from the book? If from the notes, you had better have good notes. In 1963 My U.S. History 101 tests were all from the notes which were not from the book. I actually new the miles of railroad track laid by decade in the 19th century. Prof switched in 102 to questions from the book and buried all but the history majors. I didn't know how to build an adobe hut which was described under a picture in the book!
Both questions were a waste, although I still remember that much of the friction that caused the Civil War was economic.
3) Many teachers emphasize important material throughout the course. I can remember many students starring material they thought I was emphasizing. Two very good students used to meet at 7AM before class and guess the questions I might ask and possible answers.
4) Are the test generic-basic history, sociology, economics, statistics, chemistry?  If so, there are many free notes at my Student Internet Library. My free material is in the Internet Libraries I have written and I have been adding other free course notes for over 5 years.

 
5) While maximizing grades seems the practical approach, you will be better off in the long run working most on what you do well. An accounting major is better of with an A in accounting and a C in Literature than a B in both.  I want my CPA to save me money and really don't care if they read Eliot's The Waste Land. I used to quote the late Peter Druker on the subject.

"Delivering literacy--even on the high level appropriate to a knowledge society--will be an easier task than giving students the capacity
and the knowledge to keep on learning, and the desire to do it."
..."All it requires is to make learners achieve. All it requires is to focus on the strengths and talents
of learners so that they excel in whatever it is they do well."
 ..." But schools do not do it. They focus instead on a learner's weaknesses."

From pages 236 and 237 of The New Realities (ISBN 0060916990) by Peter F. Drucker, 
Clark Professor of Social Science at Claremont Graduate School, California and considered by some  “the founding father of the science of management (LA Times)”

Walter Antoniotti    21st Century Learning Products