MULTIPLE-CHOICE TEST-TAKING TIPS
Here are a few examples that we can “walk through” together:
1. On the job, your supervisor gives you a hurried set of directions. As you start your assigned task, you realize you are not quite clear on the directions given to you. The best action to take would be to:
(a) continue with your work, hoping to remember the directions
(b) ask a co-worker in a similar position what he or she would do
(c) ask your supervisor to repeat or clarify certain directions
(d) go on to another assignment
In this question you are given four possible answers to the problem described. Though the four choices are all possible actions, it is up to you to choose the best course of action in this particular situation.
Choice (a) will likely lead to a poor result; given that you do not recall or understand the directions, you would not be able to perform the assigned task properly. Keep choice (a) in the back of your mind until you have examined the other alternatives. It could be the best of the four choices given.
Choice (b) is also a possible course of action, but is it the best? Consider that the co-worker you consult has not heard the directions. How could he or she know? Perhaps his or her degree of incompetence is greater than yours in this area. Of choices (a) and (b), the better of the two is still choice (a).
Choice (c) is an acceptable course of action. Your supervisor will welcome your questions and will not lose respect for you. At this point, you should hold choice (c) as the best answer and eliminate choice (a).
The course of action in choice (d) is decidedly incorrect because the job at hand would not be completed. Going on to something else does not clear up the problem; it simply postpones your having to make a necessary decision.
After careful consideration of all choices given, choice (c) stands out as the best possible course of action. You should select choice (c) as your answer.
Every question is written about a fact or an accepted concept. The question above indicates the concept that, in general, most supervisory personnel appreciate subordinates questioning directions that may not have been fully understood. This type of clarification precludes subsequent errors. On the other hand, many subordinates are reluctant to ask questions for fear that their lack of understanding will detract from their supervisor’s evaluation of their abilities.
The supervisor, therefore, has the responsibility of issuing orders and directions in such a way that sub- ordinates will not be discouraged from asking questions. This is the concept on which the sample question was based.
Of course, if you were familiar with this concept, you would have no trouble answering the question. However, if you were not familiar with it, the method outlined here of eliminating incorrect choices and selecting the correct one should prove successful for you.
We have now seen how important it is to identify the concept and the key phrase of the question. Equally or perhaps even more important is identifying and analyzing the keyword or the qualifying word in a question. This word is usually an adjective or adverb. Some of the most common key words are:
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most |
least |
best |
highest |
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lowest |
always |
never |
sometimes |
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most likely |
greatest |
smallest |
tallest |
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average |
easiest |
most nearly |
maximum |
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minimum |
only |
chiefly |
mainly |
but |
or |
Identifying these keywords is usually half the battle in understanding and, consequently, answering all types of exam questions.
Now we will use the elimination method on some additional questions.
2. On the first day you report for work after being appointed as an AC mechanic’s helper, you are as- signed to routine duties that seem to you to be very petty in scope. You should:
(a) perform your assignment perfunctorily while conserving your energies for more important work in the future
(b) explain to your superior that you are capable of greater responsibility
(c) consider these duties an opportunity to become thoroughly familiar with the workplace
(d) try to get someone to take care of your assignment until you have become thoroughly acquainted with your new associates
Once again we are confronted with four possible answers from which we are to select the best one. Choice (a) will not lead to getting your assigned work done in the best possible manner in the shortest possible time. This would be your responsibility as a newly appointed AC mechanic’s helper, and the likelihood of getting to do more important work in the future following the approach stated in this choice is remote. However, since this is only choice (a), we must hold it aside because it may turn out to be the best of the four choices given.
Choice (b) is better than choice (a) because your superior may not be familiar with your capabilities at this point. We therefore should drop choice (a) and retain choice (b) because, once again, it may be the best of the four choices.
The question clearly states that you are newly appointed. Therefore, would it not be wise to perform whatever duties you are assigned in the best possible manner? In this way, you would not only use the opportunity to become acquainted with procedures but also to demonstrate your abilities.
Choice (c) contains a course of action that will benefit you and the location in which you are working be- cause it will get needed work done. At this point, we drop choice (b) and retain choice (c) because it is by far the better of the two.
The course of action in choice (d) is not likely to get the assignment completed, and it will not enhance your image to your fellow AC mechanic’s helpers.
Choice (c), when compared to choice (d), is far better and therefore should be selected as the best choice.
Now let us take a question that appeared on a police-officer examination:
3. An off-duty police officer in civilian clothes riding in the rear of a bus notices two teenage boys tam- pering with the rear emergency door. The most appropriate action for the officer to take is to:
(a) tell the boys to discontinue their tampering, pointing out the dangers to life that their actions may create
(b) report the boys’ actions to the bus operator and let the bus operator take whatever action is deemed best
(c) signal the bus operator to stop, show the boys the officer’s badge, and then order them off the bus
(d) show the boys the officer’s badge, order them to stop their actions, and take down their names and addresses
Before considering the answers to this question, we must accept that it is a well-known fact that a police officer is always on duty to uphold the law even though he or she may be technically off duty.
In choice (a), the course of action taken by the police officer will probably serve to educate the boys and get them to stop their unlawful activity. Since this is only the first choice, we will hold it aside.
In choice (b), we must realize that the authority of the bus operator in this instance is limited. He can ask the boys to stop tampering with the door, but that is all. The police officer can go beyond that point. There- fore, we drop choice (b) and continue to hold choice (a).
Choice (c) as a course of action will not have a lasting effect. What is to stop the boys from boarding the next bus and continuing their unlawful action? We therefore drop choice (c) and continue to hold choice (a).
Choice (d) may have some beneficial effect, but it would not deter the boys from continuing their actions in the future.
When we compare choice (a) with choice (d), we find that choice (a) is the better one overall, and there- fore it is the correct answer.
The next question illustrates a type of question that has gained popularity in recent examinations and that requires a two-step evaluation.
First, the reader must evaluate the condition in the question as being “desirable” or “undesirable.” Once the determination has been made, we are then left with making a selection from two choices instead of the usual four.
4. A visitor to an office in a city agency tells one of the aides that he has an appointment with the super- visor, who is expected shortly. The visitor asks for permission to wait in the supervisor’s private of- fice, which is unoccupied at the moment. For the office aide to allow the visitor to do so would be:
(a) desirable; the visitor would be less likely to disturb the other employees or to be disturbed by them
(b) undesirable; it is not courteous to permit a visitor to be left alone in an office
(c) desirable; the supervisor may wish to speak to the visitor in private
(d) undesirable; the supervisor may have left confidential papers on the desk
First of all, we must evaluate the course of action on the part of the office aide of permitting the visitor to wait in the supervisor’s office as being very undesirable. There is nothing said of the nature of the visit; it may be for a purpose that is not friendly or congenial. There may be papers on the supervisor’s desk that he or she does not want the visitor to see or to have knowledge of. Therefore, at this point, we have to decide between choices (b) and (d).
This is definitely not a question of courtesy. Although all visitors should be treated with courtesy, permit- ting the visitor to wait in the supervisor’s office is not the only possible act of courtesy. Another comfortable place could be found for the visitor to wait.
Choice (d) contains the exact reason for evaluating this course of action as being undesirable, and when we compare it with choice (b), choice (d) is far better.