Studying for the objective question

Academic Skills Centre (2009)

www.trentu.ca/academicskills

STUDYING FOR THE OBJECTIVE QUESTION Essay questions are difficult because they demand analytical thinking; objective questions are difficult because they require overlearning. In any objective test — multiple-choice, fill-in-the blank, true-or-false, short-answer, sight-passage — you must be able to produce accurate details almost instantly. Doing so requires a very intense learning process; you need to work from concepts down to detail, but then you must become thoroughly acquainted with detail as well.

Memorization The key to recalling details on demand is memorization. You study so that you can recognize and reproduce facts and ideas on the exam, and, one would hope, forty years later when it’s time to impress the grandchildren. Memorizing is difficult enough that many books have been written on the subject; most of them advise that the student memorize beyond the point of mastery, to the point, that is, where the mind calls up the answer automatically, effortlessly, when presented with a given question: What are the names of the Prairie Provinces? Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, of course. To reach this plateau of utterly passive, perfectly witless recall, try to make your memorizing work as multi-sensory as possible. Do not merely read and recite, read and recite, read and recite. The mind will rebel against the boredom, rail at your attempts to make it focus yet again on the definition of marsupial. Tape charts on the walls and recite while you cook, sing the parts of the bull-frog to the tune of “When the Saints Come Marching In” while you shower, copy the material onto flashcards and pretend you are playing a solo game of Trivial Pursuit. The flashcard technique (question on the front, answer on the back, shuffle the deck before you start) begins with the useful tactile learning experience of copying the material onto cards. Flashcards are particularly helpful in training the mind to shift topics quickly and thus recognize information out of context, exactly what objective tests ask one to do. But two caveats are in order: do not waste time making the cards beautiful, and be aware of the limitations of the method itself. It does not work towards an understanding of the answer, only remembering the answer, so is not helpful if the instructor has changed the form.

TrueTrue-oror-false: recognizing the truth when you see it More than any other kind of objective question, true-or-false assesses the student’s ability to recognize facts, terms and details, since frequently one word determines the statement’s truth. For this reason, following the memorization directives suggested above is absolutely essential. In addition, you might want to prepare a “fact sheet” of true statements. Begin by recording, in sentence form, details or facts that you think might appear on the exam as true-or-false questions. Remember as you compose your list that most of these questions will test details that you should remember if you have diligently completed and understood the course work: your aim, then, in studying is not to learn From Making your Mark: Learning to Well on Exams. Catherine Taylor, Heather Avery and Lucille Strath: ASC, Trent U. (1994).



new facts, but to refresh your memory about old ones. Once your fact sheet is completed, read it over, out loud, daily. You want to commit those statements to memory so that when a variation of one appears on the exam, you know immediately whether the changes in it alter its veracity. At this point, reading and reciting doesn’t hurt, but you might want to stick the fact sheet above the kitchen sink, too, so that you can be looking at it even when you are not studying.

MultipleMultiple-choice: getting the definitions definitions straight Multiple-choice tests are not intended as a diabolical plot on the part of instructors to test what you do not know, rather than what you do, although they are often perceived to be by students. Actually, they were originally designed to make the examination process easier, because they require recognition, not total recall. You do not need to pull the answer from deep recesses of your subconscious mind; it is right there in front of you, if only you can recognize it. Herein lies the catch: you do have to be able to recognize the answer, not only in a form in which you might originally have read it, but in all the various forms an instructor might see fit to put it in. Nowhere is understanding the discourse of a discipline more essential than on a multiple-choice exam. Think about the following sample question: According to Harris, metre contributes to: a) a poem’s aesthetic impact; b) a poem’s allegorical meaning; c) a poem’s rational appeal; d) a poem’s ambiguity. The question asks the reader to define metre, according to Harris. However, a knowledge of the term is not all that is required. The student must also understand what “aesthetic impact,” “rational appeal,” “allegorical meaning,” and even “ambiguity” might mean in this context. Many multiple-choice questions require a very sound knowledge of the course vocabulary, so in your studying pay close attention to terms, not only those that are introduced in your textbooks, but also the ones the professor uses in lectures and tutorials without defining. Make sure you comprehend the vocabulary of the discipline by the time you write the exam. Knowing vocabulary, however, is not simply the ability to define terms using textbook language, although many students share this misconception. They diligently memorize all the terms listed in the glossary of their text, and along with that, all the definitions listed beside them. Such rote memory work fails the student on a multiple-choice exam because the exact definition rarely appears on the test sheet; most multiple-choice questions instead employ one of a variety of alternate definitions. A sound strategy, then, is to learn to define a term in several applied ways. Once you accomplish this feat, you are ready to write the exam. The first type of definition is the colloquial one: in other words, what the term means in everyday words. Knowing the colloquial definition is necessary to find the right answer in the following multiple-choice question:

From Making your Mark: Learning to Well on Exams. Catherine Taylor, Heather Avery and Lucille Strath: ASC, Trent U. (1994).



According to Harris, metre is: a) the way a poem is arranged on the page; b) the beat of the poem; c) the way a poem relates to other poems; d) the lines of the poem that rhyme with each other. The student who can’t translate the textbook definition, “verse rhythm, or any particular form of it,” into “the beat” will not be able to answer correctly. This question is not a tricky one; the professor is merely trying to test the student’s thorough knowledge of what the term means, a knowledge that by definition includes being able to use the term in everyday conversation. The second type of definition is definition by example. A scenario involving a certain term is given: the correct response is the definition that most accurately matches the situation. Here’s an example to look at: You have blonde hair when everyone else in your town has black hair. In sociological terms, you would be considered: a) a non-conformist; b) a deviant; c) an alienated individual; d) all of the above. In order to know that “b” is the correct answer, you must be able to define terms by examples. Test your ability to do this as you study. For every definition, think of a descriptive example. The scenario you create is unlikely to be on the exam, but at least you will have subjected your understanding of key terms to the litmus test of probing their meaning. Although you must know more than textbook definitions, you do have to know what the textbook says too: frequently, you will be asked to recognize a response that is straight from your reading. For that reason, make yourself familiar with the textbook glossary and with the textbook definitions of the terms in your notes, but don’t limit yourself to this strategy. Go beyond it by defining in your own words and with your own examples, so that you will have a knowledge of the course that is based on understanding, not memorization — and thus will do well on the exam.

ShortShort-answer questions: scoring 5 out of 5 When you have to respond to short-answer questions on an exam, your main concern will be to write enough material to earn the points awarded. Short-answer questions are usually worth between four and ten marks, and frequently one or two marks are granted for each relevant piece of information given. As you study then, ensure that you are familiar enough with terms and concepts to give more than a brief definition of them.




Begin by deciding which terms might be the basis of short-answer questions. Almost any concept that cannot be simply defined could be on this section of the exam, although major issues in the course will usually be covered by essay questions. When you have a list of terms, then proceed to collect information about them. The first component of the information you obtain would be a sound definition of the term as it was used in the context of the course. Thus, if you are studying Romantic poetry, your definition of Romanticism should relate to literature, not art. Secondly, you need illustrations or examples of the term and sometimes detail about your illustration. In a short-answer response to a question on Romantic poetry, you might not only want to name two Romantic poets, but to explain briefly why they are categorized as Romantic, particularly if that issue was a focus of the course. The final component to study is the concept’s relevance to the course. Think about why the professor would want you to be familiar with the term. Does it help to explain other issues or concepts you have studied? Many students fail to include this information in their answers, usually because they focused their study solely on defining and illustrating terms. Remember, however, that the professor is testing your knowledge of the course as a whole, and thus will want to determine, even on short-answer questions, whether you have integrated concepts as you learned them.

Sight passages: recognizing style and substance When reading from primary sources, that is, from books and articles written by the authors being studied, pay particular attention to the way the piece is written — its style, diction and syntax. Look for characteristic features. Is the prose wordy and convoluted or crisp and clear? Is the diction archaic or modern? Are certain words, metaphors, phrases, frequently used? The sight-passage question may ask you to identify author and source, and to discuss the significance of the content of the passage; or it may ask you to go a step further and analyze critically the author’s major contribution to the subject you have studied. More often than not, the sight passage contains prominent clues, both in style and meaning, that should provide the perceptive student with sufficient information to produce the answer. Suppose you encounter this passage written by Machiavelli: Therefore a wise prince must devise ways by which his citizens are always and in all circumstances dependent on him and on his authority; and then they will always be faithful to him.1 First you note its crisp, clear diction. (It is a translation from the Italian, post-medieval.) Next, you are caught by the phrase “a wise prince” and feel fairly certain this must be from The Prince; then you sense the authoritative, dictatorial tone of the quotation. (The Prince was intended as a handbook for successful statesmen.) Finally you are quite 1

Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, trans. by George Bull (Harmondsworth, England: Penguin, 1961) 71.




convinced Machiavelli wrote the passage because its meaning emphasizes the strength of the state and the prince with no mention of divine guidance. In short, this close reading of the question and the quotation allows you to locate it without recognizing the specific excerpt. A correct answer therefore depends, not on a photographic memory, but on careful study of style and philosophy.
