Answering True-False Questions
Supplemental Instruction by Ms. Andrea Haymond-Tang
The information available through this site is inteded to assist students in becoming effective and efficient learners. The pages were adapted from material presetned at two websites: www.academictips.org and www.studygs.net. If you are interested in obtaining additional help, you might visit either of those two sites or perhaps two others: www.studyguidezone.com/resource_tips.htm and www.studytips.org.
General Exam TipsAnswering Multiple Choice Questions
Answering True-False Questions
Answering Essay Questions
Answering Short Answer Questions
Taking Open Book Exams
Preparing for Emergency Exams
Coping with Test Anxiety
Note Taking Strategies
Active Listening
Answering True-False Questions
Strategies:1. Every part of the sentence must by true. Analyze each part of the sentence. If any one part of it is false, then the whole answer is false, regardless of other parts that may be true.
2. Attend closely to:
a. negatives - these can be confusing. If a question has negatives (such as "no, not, cannot"), drop the negative and read the rest of the statement. From here, decide whether the statement is true or false. If it is true, its opposite, or negative, is usually false.
b. qualifiers - these are words that open up statements. Words such as "sometimes, frequently, often, usually" widen the possibilities of making accurate statements. Statements with these kind of words make more modest claims that are more often a reflection of reality. Therefore, these statements tend to be "true" answers.
c. absolutes - theses words restrict the possibilities. Words like "no, never, none, always, every, entirely, only" give the implication that the statement must be true 100% of the time. Because these are such strict statements, they are usually "false" answers.
d. long sentences - these tend to be lengthy and contain multiple sentences. Focus on what is true and what is false for each sentence. Again, if any one part of the statement is false, then the whole statement is false.
3. Guessing: sometimes students think that because there are only two options to choose from, they have a 50% chance of being right. Of course, that means you also have a 50% chance of being wrong. However, true/false exams tend to have more "true" answers than "false" answers. This means you may have a slightly higher than 50% chance of being correct with a "true" guess. Unfortunately, this is not always the rule and every instructor is different. If you have the opportunity, review past exams for patterns.
4. As always, the best strategy is to know the material.