How To Answer Multiple Choice Questions

Last Updated on April 11, 2024.

Whenever you are faced with a set of answers and asked to choose, you should choose the most appropriate or `best’ answer, as more than one may be `correct’ in a limited sense.

Choose The Best Answer

• A] A seagull is a bird;
• B] A seagull is a bird that eats fish;
• C] A seagull is a web-footed bird that eats fish

and you are asked which is correct. Clearly, all three statements are true – but C] is the best answer as it includes more elements than the other answers.

Don’t Waste Time

If you cannot answer a multiple-choice question, go immediately to the next one. Do not waste time fretting over one that seems particularly difficult. Further down the paper, there may be a few questions you can answer immediately and correctly.

Your aim with multiple choice is to score good marks, which means you must finish. You should go through the whole paper fast, answering what you can, and leaving the others.

Then you go back to the beginning and start again, trying to answer the ones you left earlier.

Keep Cycling

You keep cycling through in this way until you either run out of time or finish all the questions.

This method gets you better marks than, say, hanging up on question five, so that you only get marked out of the four questions you have answered rather than the total number of questions set.

Always Answer

One point to remember is that if you are asked to answer thirty multiple-choice or true/false questions, then you should do so. If you do not know an answer, it is always better to guess as you might guess right, but a failure to answer must be wrong. Remember that there is no penalty for a wrong answer.

I should point out that I am not suggesting that guessing is a good idea, but it does increase the odds of getting at least some extra marks.

With a choice of answers A – D, you have a probability of getting 25 percent of the marks by guesswork alone, if the answers are purely randomized.

Test-Taking Tips

Classroom tests and college entrance exams, just like most other exams, include multiple-choice questions. So does the GED test.

So whether you plan to go to college or get a better job, getting used to answering this type of question is key. You’ll have to deal with multiple-choice anyway. See also this page that contains lots of tips to take GED Science successfully.

Here are some test-taking strategies that will help you pass the GED exam.

1. Always read the question entirely

Always read multi-choice questions entirely. Do this at all times before glancing over your answer options. It happens too often that test-takers think they already know what the question is all about before they read it completely and jump to what they think is the correct answer.

This common mistake, however, may cost you dearly, especially on a multiple-choice exam! So please, read all the questions carefully and entirely before you review the answer options. Read also this post with GED prep tips.

2. First, answer the question in your mind

When you have read the question carefully and entirely, first try to answer the question in your mind. This also counts for questions on the GED Social Studies test.

Once you’ve done that, take a look at the answer options. Doing this will prevent you from possibly overlooking the correct answer.

3. Eliminate wrong answers

When you look at the answer options, eliminate the answers when you know for sure that they’re wrong. This technique particularly helps when you’re totally lost about the question. Just eliminate obviously wrong answers first. Then use your best guess.

But also, if you think you know which option is the correct answer, eliminate wrong answers before selecting the answer you think is the correct one. So even if you think you know the answer, first eliminate those answers of which you know are incorrect.