At this time of year I am inundated with students
who are stressed about upcoming exams and in particular the multiple choice
format that many of these exams will take. I give them all my standard advice: practice, practice, practice. Why? Well, certainly not because
when they don’t get this as the punch line to the joke, “how do you get to
Carnegie Hall?” it makes me feel really ancient, but rather because it (hopefully)
works.
Practicing multiple choice
questions from a variety of sources gives students more fluency in the language
of the topic they are being tested on. I
analogize (and I analogize a lot, it is a lot like, whoops…) it to moving to a new city and doing the crossword
puzzle in the local newspaper. When I lived in New York and did the puzzle (on Mondays and
Tuesdays only), and the clue was, “off-white,” the answer was usually “ecru.” Here in Boston,
(where I can sometimes last until Thursday) the answer is, “beige.” How did I realize this? The same way you get the Wang Center.
Also, sometimes (and I know this would a very
rare circumstance) doctrinal professors actually get their multiple choice
questions from other sources. This means
that the language used in the questions may differ somewhat from the language
used in class. This really can throw
students off (especially ESL students), because they are not accustomed to seeing
the issue raised in this slightly different terminology. Practicing questions that come from many
different sources: study aids, on-line
lessons or bar review books, can help a student see the “disguised” issues more
frequently.
Another strategy I offer
students for dealing with multiple choice questions is to read the question
with the answers covered. Then, they
should come up with an answer in their heads, match it to one of the options
and move on (yes, you do need to uncover the answers at some point). I think
this is sound advice based on my experience as the sole food shopper in my
household. (I think maybe my experience
in Academic Support has played a small role, but I am not sure.) Here’s why: when I go shopping without a list, I find that I end up with many items
I don’t need, fail to get some items I do need and invariably spend more time
and money than I intended.
Multiple choice
answers use the same marketing approach as the supermarket: make it look good, and they will buy. Almost every answer on your exam will look
plausible if not downright compelling (like that $1.00 giant tub of Fluff
sitting in my cabinet). That is the
nature of the beast. If you go shopping
for an answer, chances are you will be pulled in by the display. If you have a list (or the answer in your
head) prior to your shopping trip, you are more likely to make the right choices.
And finally, like grocery shopping, you should never
go to your exams hungry. (ezs)
