Test Preparation Strategies That Work
- Get a good night’s sleep and have a good breakfast: On testing day, please make sure your child is well rested and well nourished. Rest and good nutrition will help him or her concentrate better and perform better on the test. Check the details of your specific event for information about snacks and drinks.
- Don’t worry! Decrease test anxiety by encouraging your child to relax and do the best he/she can on the test. Do not let anxiety affect you or your child!
- Arrive a little early: Allow plenty of time on arrival so your child can use the bathroom and become familiar with the testing site.
- Be bold: At the beginning of each section the test proctor will ask if there are any questions. Encourage your child to not be afraid to ask questions.
- Don’t get hung up on the unknowns: If your child does not readily know an answer, encourage him or her to try to eliminate the obviously incorrect answers. If that doesn’t work, temporarily skip the question and come back to it later. Sometimes thinking about other questions will resolve the knot. Because test scores are based on the number of questions answered correctly, it’s best to have an answer—even if it’s a best guess—on each question.
- Use the testing time wisely: Encourage your student to go back and check/review answers if there is time to do so.
- Remind your student that he or she can’t fail: Achievement tests are not “pass/fail” tests. Help your student to understand (and be assured, yourself) that these tests reveal how a student is progressing in different subject areas.
