Thinking through a test

We are working on the strategy of test taking skills. We review the title and subheadings. Then we read through the questions first, underlining key words that we will look for in the reading passage. As we read, we pay attention to dark bold printed words as well that will mean vocabulary words. After reading, we stop and think about the genre and author's purpose in writing the passage. We look at titles and key words to identify the main idea. We go back to the questions and begin to look for the answers. We read through all the answer choices also looking for key words that could be in the passage. The students pay attention to subheadings to help them look in the correct location for answers. When they find the key words in the questions or choices, they highlight those words. We also learn how to analyze some of the answers and mark out choices that do not fit. Eliminating these answer choices helps them to narrow down the answer and or key words to look for back in the passage. Most of my students are doing well in this. I have had problems at first with students not highlighting where they found the answers. When they get an incorrect answer, I have them go back and highlight where they found the answer and correct it.