How to Teach Test-Taking Strategies to Middle School Students

1 Guide students to read and think actively. Middle school students are active and energetic. Have students take turns to read out loud the instructions, question and answer choices of selected assignments. Pause after students finish reading the question, and ask them what they anticipate the answer will be. After some practice of reading out loud, have them practice reading quietly on their own. Ask students to paraphrase or summarize their reading. 2Teach them to make educated guesses and eliminate obvious incorrect answer choices. Instead of asking students what the right answers are, practice crossing out the obvious wrong answers. Students will get the right answer by the process of elimination. When students need to choose between two or more possible answers, encourage them to make an educated guess by deciding which answer makes more sense. 3 Teach your students time management. The clock is ticking. When students get stuck on one or two problems, encourage them to move on to the rest of the test. Teach them how to make a note to themselves and go back to those problems afterward. They also must learn to keep a positive attitude during a test. 4 Practice test-taking strategies by doing mock exams. Simulate testing environments, and have students take mock exams before the actual exams. Start by having them take a section or two of a mock exam. As time goes by, simulate a full-length exam. Time each mock exam. Encourage students to use testing strategies. After students complete each mock exam, go over each problem and answer their questions. http://www.ehow.com/how_12034423_teach-testtaking-strategies-middle-school-students