1. 1 How to Take Tests 2 How to Solve Problems

2. 2 Types of Tests There are two kinds of tests. Students are asked to either:  recall a fact  to solve problems Problem solving is done through the utilization of concepts, procedures, and rules

3. 3 Types of Tests In instructional terminology, these two kinds of tests are called  Remember-level or  Use-level

4. 4 Type of Tests For remember-level tests, memorization techniques should help.

5. 5 Types of Tests Use-level testing is essentially problem solving It is a skill that is difficult to teach and also difficult to create good tests for

6. 6 Types of Tests However, it is important to be able to do well on problem solving tests. To begin to solve a problem, you need to think with concepts.

7. 7 Concepts A concept is an imaginary mental tool Concepts are powerful words which either symbolize an interaction or relate an entity or group of entities to other entities They exist only in the mind

8. 8 Concepts Webster’s defines concept as a generality: the quality or state of being general; total applicability.

9. 9 Concepts Because concepts are so general, most concepts are individualized and not completely communicable as to what they represent. For example, to some people, a “good student” would be anyone who can get A’s.

10. 10 Concepts To others, a good student would also have to be active in school affairs. To still other people, they might be those students who do not disrupt the classroom. These are often called fuzzy concepts as compared to a clear concept such as the concept of “mammal.”

11. 11 Concepts Fuzzy concepts are not very useful and most us would like them to be better defined. Many concepts remain fuzzy  because of their changing nature  because you do not completely understand them  because you cannot communicate clearly what you mean by it

12. 12 Concepts Nonetheless, there would be no means of understanding the world without the ability to conceptualize.

13. 13 Test Taking Strategies Test taking becomes a matter of identifying the correct procedure for the question and then applying it.

14. 14 Test Taking Strategies To teach us to conceptualize, instruction starts with facts and then develops concepts Concepts utilize procedures and rules to help understand the world situation or subject studied

15. 15 Test Taking Strategies Procedures rely on rules For example, in the procedure to determine the area of a square, the length times length formula is a rule

16. 16 Move on to How to Take Tests 3 for more specific details on concepts, procedures and rules.

17. 17