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THE TEST-TAKING SKILLS YOU NEED
This section explains the test-taking skills you need to answer questions on the Social Studies test. This page explains what's in the section's six pages.
A test question usually has three parts:
- The Material. The text, tables, graphs etc. at the beginning of the question. Sometimes material is used for several questions. The question's answer is almost always in this material. The trick is to find it.
- What is Asked. The question or instruction. It also defines the answer format.
- The Choices. The choices offered, depending on the answer formats. (A page here in the INTRO section explains five formats.)
In the Social Studies test there are three methods you can use use to answer:
- The Main Idea Method. You answer by skimming the material to find the main idea, then compare each choice against what you find. Expect to answer about 14 of the test's 35 questions this way.
- The Details Method. You answer by scanning the material to find particular details, then compare each choice against what you find. Expect to answer about 14 of the test's 35 questions this way.
- The Direct Method. You answer by comparing each choice directly against what is asked, without skimming or scanning anything. Expect to answer about 7 of the test's 35 questions this way.
This section has six pages of test-taking skills:
- Skimming and Scanning. These are different ways you read the material. The first page in this section, here, explains them.
- Skim New Material. The first time you see new material, you skim it. The second page in this section, here, explains. You should also study "what is asked."
- Decide Which Method to Use. After you have skimmed the material and studied "what is asked," you decide which method to use. The third page in this section, here, explains how to do that.
- Use the Methods. Once you have chosen a method, you use it to answer the question. The fourth page, here, shows you how to do that.
- Finish and Guess. Remember that you only need to answer 21 of the 35 questions correctly, as long as you finish the test and guess whenever you can. The fifth and sixth pages in this section, here and here, explain how to finish and guess.
The EXAMPLES section applies the these test-taking skills to 20 test questions. Eight of these examples are in the Free Practice Test from GED Testing Service. I have written the other examples to be like questions on the test.
The test-taking skills explained here are similar to those in the Science and Language Arts websites:
- Answering Methods. The first two methods here are the same as the first two methods in the Science website. The third method here uses the word "direct" but is actually different. The Language Arts website uses different answering methods.
- Reading Skills. This website and the Language Arts website emphasize skimming and scanning. On the science test these skills are less useful because the material in the questions is usually short.
"THE TEST-TAKING SKILLS YOU NEED"