Tips for Fill in the Blank Tests

Tips for Fill in the Blank Tests

Of all the test questions types, fill-in questions may cause the most anxiety in students. This is because they require more detailed recall or application answers than standard multiple choice or true/false tests.

In most cases, the best tool for test preparation is great class notes. When you take good notes from your teacher's lecture, you usually have the vast majority of the material you'll need to prepare at your fingertips.  Most teachers create tests straight from their lecture notes.

When preparing for a fill-in test, your class notes are even more important than ever. If you have been able to record your teacher's notes word for word, you may have some fill-in phrases for the test right in front of you already.

So what do you do with this knowledge? Follow these steps:

1.    Read over your class notes and highlight new terms, important dates, noteworthy phrases, and the names of key people.  Use different colors to help you remember.

2.    Highlight the sentence that contains your key word or phrase.

3.    Copy each sentence onto a separate sheet of paper, omitting the key word or phrase. The act of writing the information again reinforces learning and you create another study help by leaving out the key word or phrase.

4.    Read over your sentences and attempt to fill in the blanks with correct answers. Look at your notes when needed.

5.    Repeat this process until you can fill in the blanks without consulting your notes.

6.  Read through the relevant chapters in your text to locate information that your teacher may have discussed but that you don't have in your notes.  This also reinforces learning as you review the material one more time, even if you simply peruse it.

This method is also a good way to prepare for short answer essay questions as well.