Test Taking Strategies

Abstract

This study aims at exploring the debatable issue in a high-stakes testing situation which is desirable for any test taker. It has been found that, beside content knowledge, test-taking behavior, such as risk-taking strategies, motivation, and test anxiety, is important for test performance. This study assumes that teaching test-taking strategies will result in increasing students' overall scores in their tests. It is also assumed that having such strategies will reduce the level of test stress and improve students' overall attitudes toward tests.
 Studies in this area often compare groups of test takers. They have for example found that high achievers tend to report using more effective test-taking strategies when compared to low achievers (Stenlund et al. 2017), that males are more prone to taking risks when answering test items (see, e.g., Baldiga 2014), and that females and low achievers seem to experience higher levels of test anxiety than males and high achievers (Stenlund et al. 2017). Findings like these can help understand and to some extent possibly explain performance differences that are often observed between manifest groups in achievement tests.