Key Tips For Multiple Choice Questions Based Competitive Exams

Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) based competitive exams are usually cursed by negative marking internationally and hence are feared by students and claimed to be tricky, risky and hard to crack. Here, we present to you a few tips that will help you sail through these exams with ease.

First, let’s understand the various types of MCQs. Multiple choice questions can be categorized into 3 main types-stating a question for you to answer, choosing the correct statement from options for a question, a question that asks you to complete a sentence by choosing the most appropriate word from the list.

Examinations based on MCQs are about general understanding of the exam pattern, and a few navigation tools like-hurrying up with questions only when essential, skipping tough questions to save time, watching out for tricky questions and following the question’s instructions as to what is expected.

Preparation Stage

1. Research about the pattern of the exam you’re preparing for and evaluate the negative marking scheme.
2. Get to understand your strength and weaknesses. Make it your target to answer the questions from the strength part within 30 seconds, so that you can give 2-3 minutes to contemplate over the questions from weak topics.
3. Use basic tactics, common sense and probability to answer a few questions. Start by eliminating options, and then go by your intuition. Try this strategy while preparing for the exams so as to decide if you’d want to use this on the D-Day.
4. Solve previous year questions and to build up accuracy and efficiency.
5. Use shortcuts for calculation based questions, while memorize the theoretical concepts.
6. Manage your time well, and prepare in a manner which leaves you with atleast 10-15 minutes to fill up the OMR sheet and revise the questions.
7. Give each test while preparing like you would do on the exam day, and re-evaluate your performance to know you faults and work on them.

During Exam

1. Read the instructions carefully before proceeding to questions and fill up the OMR sheet correctly.
2. Carefully read all questions and before going onto options, since reading options first can mislead you. The paper setters very cleverly formulate the options that would lure students to select the wrong answer.
3. Always read the end of the question- Except, not always, never,always, etc. and keep the golden rule in mind that two negatives make one positive.
4. Foremost try to solve the problem, and you fail at that then eliminate the options to arrive at the answer. If two choices look similar, then the answer is one of those two. But, if still you cannot recall anything similar, do yourself a favor by quickly moving to next question to avoid negative marking.
5. Always take a look at the last choice, if one of the choices is ‘All of the above’ and ‘None of the above’. Devote a little time to observe and go for ‘All of the above’ if two choices are correct, else it is most probably ‘None of the above’.
6. Often, answers to a few questions can be available elsewhere in the exam in the form of formulas, units, value of constants. Keep an eye on them.
7. Try to attempt theoretical questions first and then questions which needs calculation

In nutshell, to ace an MCQ exam, you must know the subject thoroughly and practice well under simulated conditions a number of times.

Wish you luck!

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