How to do your best at tests

You'll take tests for different reasons. You may be going for a job or you've been nominated to try for a promotion. Increasingly organisations use tests in their annual appraisal or performance management system. Change is on the agenda in any of these situations. Change can be stressful at the best of times, but when you’re asked to do a test as part of the process your stress levels rocket ! You may dream about school and college examinations. How can you be sure you don’t mess up your answers?

Here are some simple tips to help you do your best at tests.

Read the instructions and the text at the start of any question very carefully. Most people make mistakes because they’ve misunderstood what they’re supposed to do, not because they can’t do it.
Some tests start with practice questions. Don’t worry if you get these wrong; they’re quite often designed to ensure you make silly mistakes before you get into the real test. Use them as a sort of athletic warm-up exercise that helps you understand what you have to do and get in the mood to do your best.
Don’t spend too long on any one question. Some tests get harder as they go on, some easier, some ask questions randomly. So, you can always go back to questions that are holding you up.
Be careful how you mark your answers, whether you're writing on paper or checking boxes on a screen. If you change your answer, make sure your final choice is clear.

Specific strategies may work well:

In multiple choice tests, rule out the obviously untrue answers and concentrate on those that are left
Spend a while at the beginning looking at the amount of time you have and the number of questions you have to answer. Some tests are untimed, others have very strict time limits and, in that case, check as you go along.

BUT, if this sort of structured working is not natural to you, don’t force it. You’ll end up feeling unsure of yourself and won’t perform optimally.

If there’s time at the end, go back over your answers.
If anything disturbs you ( noises from in or outside the room for instance ) or something goes wrong ( your pencil breaks, your internet link goes down or, even, you suspect a mistake in the test ), let the person supervising you know straight away.
Like athletes and actors, you’ll do your best if there’s some, but not too much adrenalin in your system, so don’t worry about worrying.
Some tests don’t have right and wrong answers; they’re more about describing yourself and the way you characteristically behave or think. Often they’ll give you a number of descriptions to chose between. Don’t get hung up on thoughts like ‘none of these are like me’. Understand what the instructions say – ‘Your first thought is often the best‘ for instance – and follow them.

The final point is to keep the right state of mind. Tests aren't exams. They're ways of matching the right people to the right jobs. Some are designed to help you be as honest as possible ( and, in so doing, find out a bit more about yourself). Tests with right and wrong answers are specifically designed to allow you to do your best on whatever task they set. So, to repeat, you shouldn't worry too much - just enough to keep you on your toes.