Chapter 4
The Habits of Effective Test Takers
In this chapter, we'll show you how to boost your score with key skills designed to maximize your performance.
Taking a standardized test involves more than knowledge. You need to approach the test with strategy and learned skills. Effective test takers adopt certain habits that help to reduce stress and increase points.
1. Answer the Easy Questions First
Depending on your specific skill set and your level of comfort with the range of difficulty on the test, some questions will be easier for you than others. It's important to remember that within each section, all of the questions (besides Extended Response) are worth approximately an equal number of points, which means that getting a difficult question wrong is not going to cost you more than missing an easy question. You also have the freedom to answer the questions in any order you like. So, to maximize your score, first answer all of the questions with which you are comfortable, and come back to the more challenging problems later. If you are running out of time, it is best to have already completed all of the "easy" problems so you can spend your remaining minutes guessing on the difficult ones.