TT4
4. How to Use the 3 Methods
Whichever method you use, the basic approach is to eliminate choices. Sometimes you are left with two and have to guess, but even then your odds are 50-50. You can also eliminate choices with the two other answer formats, hot-spot and drag-and-drop. (See Examples 5, 12 and 14.)
Using the "Main Idea" Method:
Using the "Details" Method:
Using the "Direct" Method:
- (1) You have to skim the material to find the main idea, then compare the choices against the main idea you find.
- (2) Your initial skimming, when you first saw the material, may be enough to answer without skimming again. Or the material may be simple enough that the main idea is obvious.
- (3) Remember the suggestions about skimming in an earlier page, here.
- (4) The hardest "main ideas" questions are "infer/apply" ones, because the answer isn't usually in the material itself. You have to understand the main idea and then judge how to apply it to a different situation.
Using the "Details" Method:
- (1) You have to scan the material for something in particular.
- (2) Sometimes the "something" is obvious from "What is Asked."
- (3) Sometimes you have to scan the material for each of the choices.
- (4) "Negative" questions use this method. Here you are scanning to see which choice does not fit some criterion.
Using the "Direct" Method:
- (1) Sometimes there isn't any material, so you have to focus on the choices.
- (2) Sometimes you have to ignore the material and focus on the choices anyhow. This is true for "opinion/propaganda" and "direct causal relationship" questions.
"THE TEST-TAKING SKILLS YOU NEED"