The best way to perform well on a content-area exam is to be prepared. Classroom instruction throughout the year should provide students with the knowledge they need to pass TAKS. However, using a content-area and grade-level specific study guide will help students prepare for assessment.
TEA provides both interactive and printable versions of TAKS study guides that include specific content area TEKS, or objectives, and strategies for mastering those TEKS. Students should begin preparing for TAKS after benchmarks have been given during the winter, and should continue with consistent, weekly preparation up to testing day.
TEA publishes both released TAKS items and entire released TAKS tests to their website as they are available. Taking practice tests can help students become more familiar and comfortable with the test format, as well as the types of questions asked.
Students should take time to preview test material before getting started on the assessment. This includes skimming the questions to determine which ones the student can answer easily and which ones will require more time or thought. After skimming, students should create a plan for completing the assessment. Some students might answer all of the simple questions first, while others might group the questions according to type of question or subject. If a student decides to not answer questions in order, she should also make a plan for transferring her answers from the test booklet onto the answer document.
Each question will often include answer choices that can be eliminated as well as more than one choice that could be correct. A good strategy for answering questions is to eliminate the obviously incorrect answers and then select the answer that is "more right" of the remaining choices.
After eliminating incorrect answers, the student will be left with more than one plausible and possible answer. If the student is unsure which answer choice to select, she should guess and move on to the next question. Even though there is no time limit for the TAKS, students should be encouraged to not linger on a single question too long. Simply mark the question and revisit it after finishing the section or the exam.
Some students prefer to wait until they have answered all of the test questions in their test booklet before they transfer the answers to their answer document. This is discouraged as it can result in the incorrect answers being marked on the answer document. Students should mark their answers on their answer document either as they go or after every five questions. It is possible for students to run out of time at the end of the test, which could mean leaving several answer choices blank.
Students should always review their answers before handing in their exam. If the student has marked the answer choices in his test booklet and then transferred the answers to the answer document, each answer will need to be compared to the test booklet. It is very easy to make a mistake when transferring a large number of answer choices to the answer document.
If time permits, students should review both the questions and answer choices they selected before turning in the exam. Re-read each question and verify that the answer you chose still feels like the right answer for the exam.