Mastering Multiple-Choice Tests: Tips from Learning Expert Dan Willingham (Full Transcript)

Speaker 1: Multiple-choice tests drive a lot of students crazy, so I want to tell you how to do better on them. I'm Dan Willingham. I'm a professor who studies human learning. Most of the time, you're able to get it down to two answers, but then you can't decide between those final two. There are a couple of ways that this can happen. One is that C and D look like they're saying the same thing. D just looks like a rephrasing of C. But there actually is a detail that differentiates those two answers, and that detail didn't make it into your studying. When you're preparing for a multiple-choice test, you should remember that details are going to matter in a way that they don't matter as much for short-answer tests or essay tests. That's because teachers know that picking out an answer when all the information is right there in front of you is just easier than pulling stuff out of memory like you have to do for those other types of tests. So teachers are going to make all of the answers fairly similar. So when you're preparing for a multiple-choice test, you want to make sure you've really got the details down. The second way you can end up thinking C and D are equally good answers is more of a test-taking thing. So you're looking at it, and you see A and B are clearly wrong. You see C looks like a pretty good answer. You're about to write C, and then you look at D, and you think, D might actually be right. And then that little bit of doubt prompts you to try and think of circumstances where D might be right. And you're actually able to think of a few. And so without realizing it, you kind of turned yourself into a lawyer arguing a case for D. The best way to guard against this is really to try and notice when it's happening. If you find yourself having to add circumstances or add assumptions that turn D into an okay answer, then D is probably not the right answer. So to do better on multiple-choice tests when you're studying, make sure you're really getting the details down. When you're taking the test, don't talk yourself into answers.