Test Taking Tips
When you do not know the answer to a question, the best thing to do is?
What is "guess"
What is the correct verb tense: "She ___ to the store yesterday"? (go/goes/went)
What is went? Because "yesterday" indicates past tense, so the past form of "go" is needed.
The team of players (is/are) practicing for the game.
What is is? Because "team" is a collective noun and is treated as singular.
Choose the correct form: "They're/their/there" going to the park.
What is they're? Because it’s a contraction for “they are,” which fits the sentence grammatically.
What is the main idea of a paragraph called?
What is a topic sentence? Because it introduces the main idea that the rest of the paragraph supports.
Which word is a pronoun: quickly, they, swimming, red?
What is they? Because a pronoun replaces a noun—"they" refers to a group of people or things.
Each of the students (has/have) submitted their homework.
What is has? Because "each" is a singular subject, so it requires a singular verb.
Choose the homonym: The car lost its/it's bumper.
What is its? Because "its" is possessive, showing the bumper belongs to the car.
What should a good conclusion do? Name two things.
What is restate the thesis and summarize key points? Because a conclusion wraps up the essay and reinforces the main idea.
This is a strategy to use in the test center if you fell you are falling asleep.
What is move your tongue around on the roof of your mouth.
Choose the correct sentence: "Him and I went" or "He and I went"?
What is He and I went? Because "He" is the correct subject pronoun; "Him" is an object pronoun.
Identify the error: "Everyone must bring their own lunch."
What is a pronoun-antecedent mismatch? "Everyone" is singular, so it should be "his or her own lunch" (or "their" if allowing singular 'they').
Find the commonly confused word: "He excepted the award with pride."
What is accepted? Because “accepted” means received, while “excepted” means excluded, which doesn’t fit here.
What part of the essay summarizes the main points?
What is the conclusion? Because it restates the thesis and wraps up the argument or discussion.
To help narrow down your answer choices this is one test taking strategy you can use.
What is a eliminate obvious wrong answers
WhIdentify the subject in the sentence: "Running every day keeps me healthy."
What is Running every day? Because the gerund phrase acts as the subject of the sentence.
Choose the correct version: "She run every day" or "She runs every day"?
What is She runs every day? Because with third-person singular subjects, you add -s to the verb in present tense.
Choose the correct word: “The effect/affect of the storm was devastating.”
What is effect? Because "effect" is a noun meaning result, while "affect" is usually a verb.
What does a thesis statement do?
What is states the main argument of the essay? Because it gives direction and purpose to the writing.
True or False. The answer that contains the words like "always", "never", or "completely" is usually correct.
What is false.
Which is correct: "Neither the teacher nor the students ___ late." (was/were)
What is were? Because the subject closer to the verb ("students") is plural, so the verb must agree in number.
What's wrong with this sentence? "After reading the article, the conclusion was clear."
What is a dangling modifier? Because it sounds like the conclusion read the article. It should say, "After reading the article, I found the conclusion clear."
What’s wrong here: “The principle of the school greeted us at the door.”
What is "principle" should be "principal"? Because "principal" is the person who runs a school; "principle" means a rule or belief.
What should the introduction include besides a thesis?
What is a hook and background information? Because you need to grab the reader’s attention and provide context before the thesis.