True or False Test Taking Strategies and Tips

In exams, most students do prefer true or false questions – but they can trick you into getting the wrong answer.

The below strategies can help you win the war of true or false questions in your tests even if you are sure about the correct answer.

Tips and Strategies to Tackle True/False Tests Like a Pro

Following strategies and tips would help you reduce the time and get the most marks out of true or false questions.

01. Read the Whole Statement

At first, some parts of the statement might look real when it’s not. So, it is important before you decide on the correct answer to read the whole statement without missing out on a single word.

02. Approach each statement as if it is true

Approach assuming every statement is true at first and determine if any part of the statement is false. If any part of the statement is false it contradicts the whole statement.

03. Take time to read long statements

If you were given long statements in the question, take time to read through the whole statement. This is where most lose the marks they could have gotten. Take a minute to read through the sentence even if it is longer than a paragraph.

04. Longer Statements can be false

Statements are sometimes made longer to make sure that the students read throughout. So, the majority of the time longer statements would be false or would have double negatives.

05. Time Management

Before even starting the test see how much time you have to solve a true or false question. If you have an hour to solve 60 questions then you can take up to 1 minute per question.

Knowing the time you have to solve a question is important as how many questions could you solve within time.

06. “Qualifiers” in Statements

Carefully read and see if the statements have qualifiers or keywords such as those given below which can help you get the correct answer.

• • • sometimes
    • few
    • always
    • often
    • never
    • frequently
    • usually
    • normally

Qualifiers such as “sometimes, few, often, usually” can make the statement true most of the time. While strict qualifiers such as always or never can reflect a false statement.

07. “Negatives” 

Negative words in a statement such as “no, never, cannot, wouldn’t” can confuse you about whether is true or false. The trick to tackling such statements is to ignore the negative words and read the complete statement carefully and determine if it is true or not.

08. Double Negatives 

Two negatives are the same as positive – for example, take the statement “I don’t have no money”. It is the same as the statement “I have money” – this statement is an example of double negatives in play. So carefully look out for double negatives in a statement.

09. Reason Statements

Statements that include words such as “because, since, reason” otherwise identified as reason statements tend to be false most of the time.

10. Educated Guess

If you are still unsure about the correct answer make an educated guess. It won’t hurt your score badly. You have a 50% chance of getting the answer correct more if you are sure about some things in the statement.

Conclusion – True or False Tests

True or False questions can confuse you sometimes in tests. So, they can take much more time than you could think to solve and get the correct answer. The above tips we provided could help you win the war on true or false test questions.