Reader S. writes:

I’m taking an introductory course in speech language pathology (SLP).  My professor gave us a mid-term consisting of 50 multiple choice questions and I only got 35 right. I was very disappointed and now I’m dreading the final…I don’t think my grade reflects my knowledge…I spent soo much time studying for the exam and I was certain that I knew the material.

Can you offer any sample multiple choice questions on communication disorders or suggest a study guide on communication disorders with multiple choice questions and answers so I can practise? I tend to do bad in multiple choice exams and I really need to practise.

First of all, yes – you do need to practice. See below for resources. But most importantly, if you’re certain you knew the material, than the problem isn’t really a lack of knowledge in SLP. It’s lack of specific skills for multiple choice tests. You even mentioned it yourself: “I tend to do bad in multiple choice exams.”

That indicates a problem not with the specific course, but with the MCQ test format. Use the resources below, sure, but be sure to focus specifically on the sample multiple choice questions. Before that, though, do yourself a favor and grab a copy of Mastering Multiple Choice. It’s available in print or e-book. The e-book version is guaranteed by yours truly.

Books With Sample SLP Tests or Practice Multiple Choice Questions:

Here area few speech language books focused on the Praxis examination. Check them out, and the “Customers who ordered this” section for some other possibilities:

• SLP/Praxis Study Guides

Other Resources:

• NespaExam.com has a few free resources (as well as paid material). They also offer a series of podcasts.
• How about an iphone/ipod touch app?
• Some sample questions (PDF)
• A free study guide with lots of book references

Good luck!

Note: The GRE uses the multiple choice format liberally. If you want the links to the GRE sample questions, just scroll down. If you’d like an overview first, and some GRE-specific multiple choice strategies, keep reading! -SM

The Basic GRE Structure

Three of the four GRE test sections are in multiple choice format – that makes this exam, like others, a challenge for anyone who feels like MCQ’s give them a hard time.

The three multiple choice sections on the GRE are:

• Verbal: This section tests language abilities using questions involving sentence completion, antonyms,  and analogies. Normally about 30 multiple choice questions and 30 minutes.
• Quantitative: This section tests high school mathematics. Typically about 28 MCQ’s, 45 minutes.
• Experimental: The GRE often includes new test questions so that they can be benchmarked for difficulty. The good news is that these questions won’t count towards your score. The bad news is that you won’t know which ones they are, if any – they’ll be blended right in with the rest of the questions.

For our multiple choice purposes here, that’s enough background. If you want to get into scoring algorithm and other nitty-gritty details, check out the GRE Wikipedia page.

GRE Multiple Choice Tips

• Practice your CAT skills: The GRE is a computer adaptive test (CAT). That changes the game a little – make sure you download the software (below) and check out our list of computer adaptive test tips.
• Nail the First Five Questions: they count for more. After that…
• …Answer Everything: There are no penalties for wrong answer on the GRE. Make sure you answer every multiple choice questions. In fact, you can’t skip a question, so get comfortable using the process of elimination to improve your odds.
• Choose current study guides: the GRE has changed dramatically over time (there was a particularly big update in 2007) so make sure the materials you’re using for reference are up to date, particularly the stuff that relates to test format and content.
• Practice, practice, practice: I’ve heard the GRE referred to as “uncoachable.” Not true. You definitely can raise your marks by tapping into as many sample questions as possible. As with all multiple choice exams, GRE practice tests and questions are going to be your best use of study time. With that in mind let’s get to the…

…Free GRE Practice Tests

First, the obvious stuff:

• ETS, the folks who actually write the GRE, offer a free GRE sample test in PDF
• They also offer GRE software you can use to emulate the real deal, interactice sample questions, and a math-specific PDF.
• There are new resources occassionally – check out the ETS page here.

Once you get past that, however, try some of these resources. Remember – the more practice GRE questions you can get your hands on, the better.

• Best Sample Questions
• Syvum
• Peterson’s has a free practice test
• GraduatesHotline.com offers sample questions for the verbal portion of the GRE
• 800score.com has a free download of the GRE math section
• GRE guide
• Princeton Review offers a free GRE demo test
• So does Kaplan, but you’ll have to register (free)
• West Texas A&M offers practice GRE math questions
• MicroEdu.com offers 30 free GRE multiple choice questions with answers
• Examville has full, math, and verbal practice tests, but you’ll have to register first
• TestPrepReview.com (they’ve also got a massive collection of links to various sites to help with specific GRE skills)
• Majon.com has free GRE verbal and math samples and answers
• 4Tests.com has about 50 free questions total

Paid GRE Practice Tests

For a great list of GRE prep books with the “must-have’s” noted, visit this post on the Happy Schools Blog. If you can’t afford the books, consider this idea from the Grad School Application Process blog for getting your hands on more GRE sample tests:

there are a number of books filled with old GRE paper exams. These are a great place to start as well. Honestly, I would just camp out in Barnes and Noble or Borders and use their books without having to purchase them. It’s not a bad way to go.

There are tons of GRE sample tests you can pay for – online, or in book form.

If you find a broken link, or another resource for GRE practice questions, contact me to let me know!

One of the reasons multiple choice questions are so difficult is that they’re often designed to be intentionally misleading. On a multiple choice test you may have to decipher complicated statements just to understand the question before you even start trying to find the correct response.

An overuse of negatives is one way that test designers try to trip up students. Single, double, even triple negatives are often used to complicate the meaning of the question.  And misreading just one negative means the whole meaning of the statement is reversed!

An Example

To start, let’s go to the extreme with a simple-but-complicated negative statement:

There’s nothing less worse than not answering a question incorrectly.

Does that make sense to you?  At first glance, this sentence is basically gibberish.  But it does have a meaning. Your job is to decipher it.

Identify the Negatives and Rewrite

The key to negatives is to rewrite the question in a way that keeps the original meaning, but is in plain English. Let’s take a look at the above phrase again, and identify the negatives by underlining them.

There’s nothing less worse than not answering a question incorrectly.

Let’s start with less worse.  What does less worse mean?  If something is less worse, it must be “better”.

So less worse=better.

Now our sentence reads: There’s nothing less worse better than not answering a question incorrectly.

Not bad, but not great either. What about not and the prefix in?  The great thing about multiple negatives is that they cancel each other out.  We can get rid of one negative from a sentence as long as we get rid of another one to keep the balance.  As long as we do this in pairs, the meaning of the sentence stays the same.

So, stroke out not and in, and we get:

There’s nothing less worse better than not answering a question incorrectly.

What does our sentence say now?

There’s nothing better than answering a question correctly.

Simple, and easy to understand!

Here are some negative prefixes to keep an eye out for on your next multiple choice test.  In each case, the negative prefix changes the meaning of the word to its opposite.

Negative prefixes

• Im - Impossible means not possible.
• Ir - Irresponsible means not responsible.
• Un – Unnecessary means not necessary.
• Dis – Disabled means not able.
• Non – Nonalcoholic means not alcoholic.
• In – Inappropriate means not appropriate
• Il – Illegal means not legal.

Now if we come back to our question of multiple negatives, what happens when we combine a negative prefix word, with another negative, like “not”?  Let’s have a look:

Double Negatives

• Not unnecesary = necessary
• Not nonalcoholic = alcoholic
• Not inappropriate = appropriate
• Not impossible = possible
• Not illegal = legal
• Not irresponsible = responsible
• Not disabled = able

The principle here, as mentioned above, is that double negatives cancel each other out. Once you spy the negatives in the multiple choice question, you can rewrite the sentence into something that makes sense and is easier to answer.

The Body Worker has links to a whopping pile of sample multiple choice questions for the Massage Therapy National Certification (NCE).

1. The sequences and directions of Swedish massage strokes are most adapted to which anatomical or physiological situation?

a) Muscle attachments

b) Subcutaneous adipose tissue

c) Autonomic nervous system

D) Lymph drainage and venous return

Follow the links on the page for sample test questions and free online massage tests, and a pile of print books with sample questions in them as well – all told, there are enough questions here to keep you busy for a long time.

Passing the National Certification Exam in Massage

In multiple choice test jargon, the incorrect options on the test are called distractors, and they’re aptly named because they do just that: distract you from the correct answer.

Distractors are tough. They lead to second-guessing, and increased test anxiety. Good multiple choice test-taking, on the other hand, is all about focus, and distractors don’t make the job of staying focused any easier. To decrease the power of distractors, try this simple trick.

Using a blank sheet of paper, a ruler or even your hand, cover up all the response options for the question.  Just read the stem. Make sure the distractors are invisible. This allows you to:

• Focus solely on the wording of the question
• Not be distracted or misled by some of the possible answers (remember, test-makers can be out to trick you)
• Stay calm and work the test, instead of the test working you

Make sure you get the options covered completely before you even start reading the question. Even a quick glimpse and your eye will pick up some of the options before you have a chance to look away.

First of all, you’re not alone. One of the great injustices of our modern education system is that many people are being left behind by objective testing because they aren’t taught how to master the test format. Students are offered all kinds of support for the tools of essay-style response tests – skills like  spelling and grammar – but we don’t learn the skills for multiple choice test-taking.

The fact is, multiple choice questions and tests can be incredibly challenging.  Here are just a few reasons why multiple choice tests may be giving you grief:

• Overconfidence – you think multiple choice tests are easy, so you study less.
• Trickery – your professor thinks that multiple choice tests are easy, so they create tricky, confusing questions.
• Time Pressures – multiple choice tests are often intentionally lengthened.  We’ve all felt this one.
• Broader range – the questions are short and fast, so a LOT of ground can be covered in one exam.
• Specific data – Since the answers are right there on the page (yup, it’s true), specifics like dates, names and places become fair game.
• Can’t bluff – No BS on these suckers.  No part marks.  No bonuses for writing an eloquent sentence to disguise the fact that you have absolutely no idea what the answer is.
• Difficult for teacher to write – That’s right.  Creating a good multiple choice test is a skill.  And not all teachers and professors have it.
• Content is shuffled – many multiple choice tests have no structure whatsoever.  You could be answering a physics question and a history question back to back.  That’s hard on the noggin.

What to do about it

The solution is to fill the gap that the education system isn’t. To get the marks you deserve on multiple choice tests, you need to master the MCQ test format. You need to learn test taking skills that are specific to multiple choice exams – not generic ones for “all” tests. My recommendation, and granted it’s a biased one, is that you use Mastering Multiple Choice. You can read the testimonials if you like, or the FAQ’s, or you can just order it. But it will help. Guaranteed.

The standard mindset for any kind of testing is to come up with the right answer. Right? Well, that’s certainly a valid approach. After all, if you come up with all the right answers, then you’ll get a perfect score. What could be easier?

Welcome to reality. In the real world, people don’t know all the right answers. You may not even know most of the right answers. However, we do know that in multiple choice questions, the answer is there somewhere. You just have to find it. That’s the real advantage of multiple choice tests: the answer is already there.

The problem, though, is that finding the right answer can be like trying to remember something that’s on the tip of your tongue. The more you think about it the more elusive it can be. Sometimes, to remember things, you need to come at them…well, sort of sideways.

The equivalent process to this for multiple choice questions is called Process of Elimination, or POE. Using POE is simple. Instead of trying to find the right answer, simply try to find and eliminate the wrong ones. What’s left must be correct.

This isn’t just fluffy advice, but a fundamental way in which you look at the questions on your next exam. When you can’t think of the right one, stop trying to. Focus instead on finding wrong responses – the answers you simply know can’t be right. With each on you find, the odds of guessing correctly increase dramatically. At the same time, your test anxiety drops, and your confidence skyrockets.

Remember: Multiple choice questions aren’t necessarily about finding right answers.

Multiple choice test anxiety and confusion starts earlier than you might think. The entire language surrounding MCQ’s is more complicated than it needs to be. To start improving your test performance, you need to start with simplifying the multiple choice language.

Multiple choice tests have their own fancy jargon.  The question itself is called the stem.  The various options available to choose from are called foils.  The correct foil is the key, and all the incorrect ones are called distractors.  Finally, the whole package of stem and foils together is called an item.  Here’s an example:

Multiple choice tests can be:
a) Easier than essay-type exams because they often emphasize general information
b) Harder than essay-type exams because the time pressures are greater
c) Easier or harder depending on the student and test developer
d) All of the above

For our purposes here on Mastering Multiple Choice, we’ll avoid the term “foils” and use “options” instead, and call the “stem” a “question.” In the sample above, the responses a-d are the options, and the bold first line is the question. What could be easier?

And the answer (which is a better word for “key”) to this question, is d)…