Answering a simple selection exam. Designed by: Luis Alberto Isea M.

Review the exam briefly and calculate your time.

As soon as you receive the exam, don’t rush to answer the questions immediately. Instead, take a look at everything.
examine and know the terrain. Write your name on the answer sheet. Identify how many questions each topic has.
Calculate your time, remember that you should finish 5 or 10 minutes before the deadline, so you have a few free minutes.
and you can check for careless mistakes, like unanswered questions, or any very difficult question that you might have skipped.

Generally, problems arise when you forget to check the clock and you spend too much time trying to
answer one or two difficult questions. You can note a cutoff time for each topic (for example, the nervous system has 24)
exam questions, if I have a total of 1 hour and 45 minutes, I can spend 52 minutes solving it, and check the clock every
once you complete a section.

Once you have skimmed through the exam, try to start solving the topic that you have studied the most or that seems easier to you.

Take small breaks. Don't run.

Practice taking some breaks during the exam, stopping for a moment, closing your eyes, and taking
deep breaths, this will increase your brain oxygen supply and relieve stress. Don't feel bad if others
classmates finish before you. Remember that you will not earn extra points for finishing first, this is not
a Formula 1 race, take your time to solve the exam calmly, review your answers carefully.

To answer the questions

There are 2 main methods to solve multiple choice or multiple selection questions:

a) Answer the question directly:

It is the best way, and the fastest, as long as you have studied the topic in advance and
depth.

It is a 2-step process. First, read the question carefully, but DO NOT read the answers. Try to
understand the question and conceive a plan to answer it, mentally locate the context in which it is inscribed
question, remember where in your notes you read that information. Once you have answered it, see if your response
it is among the options presented to you. Remember, only look at the options once you have answered the
statement of the question.

b) Elimination process (discarding):

Generally, if the question is difficult, you can use the process of elimination or discarding.

In any multiple-choice exam, only one option is correct, the others are distractors (similar options,
that seem to catch our attention but are actually a trap, designed to destroy our
hopes). Read the question calmly and underline the key words. Evaluate each option, read it carefully, you
Can you help by assessing whether the option is true or false and if it relates to the statement of the question. Remember
justify your selection, if you believe an option is true or false, you should be sure of why.

If you try the elimination and get stuck, don't hesitate to skip to the next question, mark it, and remember to come back.
she before submitting the exam.
What if none of the options seems right to me?

a. Ask yourself if the answer you are thinking about is completely related to the question. If the answer that
you chose is only partially correct or if it only applies under very specific conditions,
it might not be correct. If you have to make a conclusion derived from a series of assumptions,
ask yourself if that conclusion is so obvious that it is expected for everyone to make the assumptions and derive their answer.
from that conclusion. If not, that answer is not correct.
b. Please, do not overanalyze the questions, do not read too deeply and in detail the question, do not overwhelm.
the form over the substance of the question. Try not to imagine hypothetical scenarios in which your option could
to be correct.
c. If you still find two options correct, try to compare their differences and refer to the question.
Remember that you may be looking for the best answer, that is, the one that is most directly related to
context stated in the question.

When selecting options, you can keep an eye on...

a. Be careful with words that express that a fact is indisputable: 'completely', 'always', 'never',
"never"; if these are used in the formulation of the question, it means that the correct answer must be a
irrefutable fact. If words are used in the answers, be careful, for it to be correct it must be a
physiological fact that you are 100% sure of, under any circumstance. Generally, they are not correct.
b. On the contrary, if you find in an option some words that are not determinative such as
frequently, habitually, rarely, and possibly generally describe the nuances of the
reality in a more accurate way and can be an indication that the option is correct.
c. Sometimes you are presented with 2 options that are extremely similar, except for one value or one word, for
In general, the correct option is among these 2 options.
If several of the answers mean the same thing in different words, they are not the correct options.
e. If any of the answers is noticeably longer, analyze it carefully; sometimes it is the correct one.
f. Be careful with completely unknown options, do not select them at first glance.

Don't change! Watch out for the eraser...

If you took your time and followed the previous steps to answer the questions, your first answer will usually be
the correct one. Remember that multiple choice exams have distractors that are very similar to the correct answer
what can tempt you to change the answer you had already chosen. Don't do it. Only change if when reviewing the exam you
realizes some clearly evident error. Don't let your imagination run wild with possible scenarios 'What if...?'

Finishing...

Don't leave questions unanswered! If there are, after all, questions that you didn't know the answer to, guess it (throw it at
hit). The chances of success in a simple selection exam include the possibility of guessing. It is
It is preferable to choose an answer rather than overlook this possibility. Remember that you have a 20% chance of.
getting it right. For practical purposes, in this type of exam, it doesn't matter if you got it right by guessing or because you actually
You knew. It's a defect of the instrument, but well, none is perfect.

Last but not least, remember to fill in the ovals, you can answer in the exam booklet.
but you must transfer your answers to the optical reader sheet, and vice versa, if you are responding directly on it
Sheet, pass the options to the notebook before submitting, then you will be able to know your grade before its publication.
bulletin board. Be careful that the option you fill in the oval is the one corresponding to the question number.