Biology EOC Test Taking Skills & Winter Interim Review Biology EOC Test Taking Skills & Winter Interim Review By: Heather Hodson, your Science Coach

These skills are currency. They will help you with your on your 3 EOC’s this year. These lifelong test-taking skills will help you score well on any other standardized tests you may encounter - SATs, PERT’s, ACT’s, GREs, ASVABs, LSATs, MCATs, GMATs just to name a few l Why Do Test taking Skills Matter?

Be the driver. Effective test taking means using a trained skill set consistently. You are in control. Don’t get “taken for a ride”.

Philosophy: You take the test don’t let the test take you ! KNOW the test format KNOW the content tested KNOW how to answer a multiple choice exam Skill #1: Know Your Test

What Does The Biology EOC Look Like?

Skill #1 : Know the Test Format Note: Test items are written at a ninth grade level with Science words up to the college level. So it averages about a 10 th grade level Biology EOC-This is a Reading and a Science test! Use all your reading skills and your new test taking skills!.

Skill #1 : Know the Test Format The test includes multiple choice questions given after a question, diagram or reading passage. Students will have 160 minutes to complete this test.

This test has three categories. Molecular & Cellular Biology (35%) Classification, Heredity, & Evolution (25%) Organisms, Populations, & Ecosystems (40%) Skill #2 Know the Content

MC questions have two to three parts. Background Question- The final sentence of the stem. Graphic Order to read : Question, Background, then graphic. Skill #3: Know How to answer the MC

SLOWLY Read the question first. Identify the key words. (underline, circle, or box).This is the focus of the question, focus on it first. These words represent your answer. The correct answer must address these key words. Step 1: Read the question

Next, read the background knowledge. Identify the words that relate to your key words. These words should help provide focus. Step 2: Read the Background

Look at graphic if provided. Ask yourself, how does this help support the key words, what information are they giving me to help me. Step 3: Graphic

Summarize and visualize what they are asking for and in your own words provide your own question. Step 4: In your own words

Now, look at the answer choices for the first time. Correct answers must address your identified focus, must be realistic and on topic. Eliminate what you can and choose. Answer every question even if it is a guess. Step 5: Choose the best answer

Don’t think of elephants Don’t think of elephants!

By looking at the answer choices without a plan, you could get tricked and think about elephants and only elephants. Stay focused! Beware of the distractors !

The atomic theory has been revised over time. John Dalton described the atom as a solid sphere while a later theorist, Ernest Rutherford, developed a different model. Why has the atomic theory changed during the last several hundred years? A. The new scientific method is more efficient at developing theories. B. As new discoveries are made, existing theories are revised or replaced. C. The atom has changed over time, and new theories must reflect those changes. D. The splitting of the atom in a nuclear reactor has created the need for a new model. Skill #4: LET’S PRACTICE

The atomic theory has been revised over time. John Dalton described the atom as a solid sphere while a later theorist, Ernest Rutherford, developed a different model. Why has the atomic theory changed during the last several hundred years? A. The new scientific method is more efficient at developing theories. B. As new discoveries are made, existing theories are revised or replaced. C. The atom has changed over time, and new theories must reflect those changes. D. The splitting of the atom in a nuclear reactor has created the need for a new model. Skill #2: LET’S PRACTICE

The atomic theory has been revised over time. John Dalton described the atom as a solid sphere while a later theorist, Ernest Rutherford, developed a different model. Why has the atomic theory changed during the last several hundred years? A. The new scientific method is more efficient at developing theories. B. As new discoveries are made, existing theories are revised or replaced. C. The atom has changed over time, and new theories must reflect those changes. D. The splitting of the atom in a nuclear reactor has created the need for a new model. Skill #2: LET’S PRACTICE

The atomic theory has been revised over time. John Dalton described the atom as a solid sphere while a later theorist, Ernest Rutherford, developed a different model. Why has the atomic theory changed during the last several hundred years? A. The new scientific method is more efficient at developing theories. B. As new discoveries are made, existing theories are revised or replaced. C. The atom has changed over time, and new theories must reflect those changes. D. The splitting of the atom in a nuclear reactor has created the need for a new model. Skill #2: LET’S PRACTICE

The atomic theory has been revised over time. John Dalton described the atom as a solid sphere while a later theorist, Ernest Rutherford, developed a different model. Why has the atomic theory changed during the last several hundred years? A. The new scientific method is more efficient at developing theories. B. As new discoveries are made, existing theories are revised or replaced. C. The atom has changed over time, and new theories must reflect those changes. D. The splitting of the atom in a nuclear reactor has created the need for a new model. Skill #2: LET’S PRACTICE

The atomic theory has been revised over time. John Dalton described the atom as a solid sphere while a later theorist, Ernest Rutherford, developed a different model. Why has the atomic theory changed during the last several hundred years? A. The new scientific method is more efficient at developing theories. Was this in your key words ? B. As new discoveries are made, existing theories are revised or replaced. C. The atom has changed over time, and new theories must reflect those changes. Why is this a distractor? D. The splitting of the atom in a nuclear reactor has created the need for a new model. Is this to the topic? Skill #2: LET’S PRACTICE

Skill #4: LET’S PRACTICE ON YOUR OWN

Slide 7- C Slide 8- A Slide 9 -C