How to Study

particularly vexing.
Chapter 8
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How to Study for Tests
193

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Many experts recommend this method because they maintain that
answering so many questions one after another gives you immediate
confidence to tackle the questions you’re not sure about. If you find
that you agree, then by all means use this strategy. However, you may
consider just noting easy ones as you preread the test. This takes less
time and, to me, delivers the same “confidence boost.”
The last approach is actually the one I used. In fact, I made it a point
to do the very hardest questions first, then work my way “down” 
the difficulty ladder. (Which means I often worked backwards, since
many test-makers and teachers make their tests progressively more
difficult.)
It may sound strange to you, so let me explain the psychology. 
I figured if time pressure starts getting to me at the end of the test, 
I would rather be in a position to answer the easiest questions—and
a lot of them—in the limited time left, rather than ones I really had 
to think about. After all, by the end of the test, my mind was simply
not working as well as it was at the beginning!
That’s the major benefit of the third approach: When I was most
“up,” most awake, most alert, I tackled questions that required the
most analysis, thinking, and interpretation. When I was most tired—
near the end—I was answering the questions that were virtually
“gimmes.”
At the same time, I was also giving myself a real shot of confidence.
As soon as I finished the first hard question, I already felt better.
When I finished all of the hard ones, everything was downhill.
I would always, however, try to ensure adequate time to at least 
put down an answer for every question. Better to get one question
wrong and complete three other answers than get one right and leave
three blank. It is not the approach for everybody, but it may be right
for you.
How to Study
194

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Don’t fall into the “answer daze,” that blank stare some students get
when they can’t think of an answer—for 10 minutes. Do something.
Better to move on and get that one question wrong than waste
invaluable time doing nothing.
All or None?
Some teachers have fallen in love with “all of the above” and “none
of the above.” You can’t take one of their tests without those phrases
appearing in every other question.
“All of the above” is often the right answer if it is an option. Hope that
you see it as a potential answer to every question because it gives you
a much better chance to do better on the test than your mastery of the
material (or lack thereof) might normally warrant. Why? Because you
don’t have to be really sure that “all of the above” is correct to choose
it. All you have to be is pretty sure that two answers are correct (and
equally sure the others are not necessarily wrong). As long as you
believe there is more than one correct answer, then “all of the above”
must be the right choice!
Likewise, you don’t have to be convinced that “none of the above” is
the right answer, just reasonably sure that none of the other answers
is absolutely correct.