10 Tips That Will Actually Help You Ace Multiple Choice Exams

Is the answer A, B, C, or D? By Jessica Huynh, Storyteller for RU Student Life

1. Read the question carefully and think about what the question is really asking.

Professors will try to throw you a curveball by providing unnecessary information in the question. Take your time (within reason, of course) to identify what the question is asking before you attempt to answer it.

2. Highlight or underline keywords in the question.

To avoid getting lost in the question, highlight what you are actually looking for by paying close attention to keywords (i.e. "Which of the following is NOT an example of x?").

3. See if you can answer the question without looking at the options.

Looking at the options can cause you to doubt your initial response, so cover those choices and see if you can answer the question as though it was a fill-in-the-blank question first.

4. When stuck between two options, go with your initial guess.

Unless you feel absolutely certain that your first choice was wrong, go with your gut. The option that sounds like it could be the correct answer was intentionally put there to throw you off.

5. Trust your intuition.

There will be questions that you will stare and read over and over again and still have no clue what the answer is. When in doubt, go with your gut.

6. Review each option and cross out the ones you know are incorrect.

Take your time and logic out why each option could or couldn't be the answer. By using a process-of-elimination, you might be left with the correct answer (even if it wasn't obvious to you right away).

7. When stuck on a question, pick an answer then mark a huge star beside the question.

That way, if you have time to go back, you can revisit those trickier questions. Sometimes, finishing the exam can actually jog your memory on a previous question that stumped you.

8. Keep track of the time remaining.

Allow yourself an ample amount of time to answer all the questions. Don't rush but don't get tripped up on one or two questions either.

9. Make sure you fill out the bubble sheet correctly.

Always use pencil when filling out the bubble sheet and shade your answer in completely. If you changed some answers along the way, make sure you erase your first response neatly to ensure the scanner doesn't accidentally read both.

10. Relax and have confidence!

You've studied as much as you (willingly) could. There's nothing you can do but to grin and do your best. Relax and have confidence that you will ace multiple choice. Wishful thinking's got to count for something, right?!

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Good luck on exams! You got this!