Multiple Choice
Part of preparing for a multiple-choice test involves knowing the types of questions frequently asked on these tests. In general, multiple-choice questions fall into the following categories:
Main Idea/Central Point Questions
Main idea/central point questions start like this:
• Which of the following statements best expresses the main idea?
• The central point of the passage is…
• The author’s main point is…
HINT: Incorrect responses usually fall into two categories: too general or too detailed. Often, all the incorrect responses will be supporting details.
Detail Questions
These questions test your understanding of material stated directly in the passage or, occasionally, get you to notice what isn’t stated. Detail questions start like this:
• Which of the following statements is true?
• All of the following are true EXCEPT…
• According to the passage…
HINT: Incorrect answers to detail questions tend to be flat-out false answers. In their wrong answers, test makers often use flowery language or direct quotes from the passage.
Implied Meaning Questions
Questions testing implied meaning call on your skills at drawing inferences. These questions start like this:
• It can be inferred from the passage…
• The author implies that…
• The passage (author) suggests that…
HINT: Incorrect responses tend to be false statements that lack logical support.
Vocabulary Questions
Vocabulary questions test your general word knowledge as well as your ability to figure out meaning from context clues. To answer these questions, you should be able to use the context to determine the meaning of both unfamiliar terms and common terms used in a new way.
Vocabulary questions are usually phrased like this:
• As used in the passage, the best definition of (the word) is…
Purpose Questions
The purpose of a passage is often implied rather than stated directly. In responding to a purpose question don’t think, “What is the author’s purpose?” but rather “What did the author do to or for me? Did the author inform me, explain something to me, describe something, try to persuade me, or entertain me?” Purpose questions are easy to spot. They usually begin:
• The purpose of this passage is to…
The above guide to the types of multiple-choice questions should help you predict—and prepare for—multiple choice exam questions. Here are some additional hints that can help you answer both multiple-choice and true/false questions:
1. Eliminate answers with 100% words—words like all, none, never, and always, which leave no room for exceptions or alternatives. Responses containing these 100% words are seldom correct.
2. Carefully evaluate answers with qualifying words such as some, frequently, usually, sometimes, or many. These answers may be correct or incorrect.
3. If two multiple-choice options are the same, eliminate both. For instance, suppose the question asks, “The purpose of this passage is to (a) argue, (b) persuade, © inform, (d) entertain.” You can eliminate (a) and (b) because these two responses mean the same thing.
4. If two options are similar but not synonymous, you must figure out the difference. For instance, suppose one choice says “All the major movie studios have left Hollywood” and another choice says “Almost all the major movie studios have left Hollywood.” You can probably eliminate the first choice because it includes the 100% word “all.”
5. Look with suspicion at choices with unfamiliar information, unfamiliar terminology, or pompous phrases. These are more likely to be distracters (wrong answers) than good choices.
6. Eliminate multiple choices that are neither right nor wrong but simply not drawn from the passage.
8. Remember to choose not simply the right answer but also the best answer.
Essay Tests
Your palms are sweaty. Your stomach churns. You feel slightly dizzy. Are you:
a. an actor waiting to take a screen test at Paramount Studios on Melrose Ave.?
b. a student facing an essay question and a blank sheet of paper?
c. both of the above?
The answer is ©! Essay tests are much more demanding than multiple-choice tests because essay tests require you to do more than just recognize correct answers. You must recall, create, and organize information—and all within a limited time period. Fortunately, there are some things you can do beforehand to maximize your chances for success and minimize your anxiety.
Prediction is an important part of preparing for an essay exam. And, you don’t have to be Hollywood’s Psychic to the Stars to predict what kind of essay questions you’ll face! First, essay questions elicit long, thoughtful responses, not one word or one-sentence answers. “Name the most famous site in Hollywood,” is not an essay question (but the answer is Mann’s Chinese Theater, where 200 actors and actresses have left their handprints, footprints and even a nose print in the cement). A more typical essay question would be “Trace the history of Mann’s Chinese Theater from its opening to the present.” Essay questions often use key words that require you to take specific actions. Here’s a list of key words to watch for, so put these in your long-term memory: [BLOCKQUOTE]
• Compare: List the similarities.
• Contrast: Note the differences.
• Criticize: State your opinion and stress weaknesses.
• Define: Define a term’s meaning and use examples.
• Describe: State the characteristics vividly.
• Diagram: Make a drawing that demonstrates relationships.
• Discuss: Define the issue. Elaborate on pros/cons.
• Evaluate: State positive and negative views and make a judgment.
• Explain: Show cause and effect, giving reasons.
• Illustrate: Provide examples.
• Interpret: Explain your own understanding of and opinions on a topic.
• Justify: Give proof or reasons to support an opinion.
• List: Record a series of numbered items.
• Outline: Sketch the main points with major supporting details.
• Prove: Use facts to support an opinion.
• Relate: Connect items and show how one influences another.
• Review: Provide an overview with a summary.
• Summarize: Retell the main points.
• Trace: Move sequentially from one event to another.
[/BLOCKQUOTE]
Now, read the following selection and try to predict an essay questions using some of the key words above. Since this passage obviously comes from a longer work, your questions might require answers that can’t be found in the passage. Don’t worry about answers, though. Just think of good, likely questions.


[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]Postmodernism and Trends[/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]In 1981 MTV (Music Television) first broadcast on cable networks; its notoriety was established within four years, and by 1991 it had become so established that its tenth-anniversary celebration included most of the leading artists in the music industry. MTV helped promote the careers of Billy Idol, Michael Jackson, Madonna, and Paula Abdul. With its glitzy, fast-paced format in which most shots last no more than three seconds, MTV acknowledged its connection to the new style when in 1990 it announced an award for the best postmodern video of the year. The film, sex, lies, and videotape is considered postmodern in its self-awareness and recognition of the ways in which our lives can be seen as performance. My Own Private Idaho includes in its study of young street hustlers an extended section taken directly from Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 1. The films of David Lynch and his television series Twin Peaks have a bizarre, uncertain sense of character and event that is characteristic of the period. No longer is there a sharp line between reality and dream states; character motivation becomes frightening or threatening because it is unknowable; values (especially traditional ones) are not worth following because they do not seem to result in positive results. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]This rather bleak vision of reality (to some) is hardly characteristic of all human experience or of all arts activities. Countertrends are as evident in the 1980s and 1990s as they are in any other era. Not surprisingly, the mass media of film and television continue to portray the human condition as containing a sense of personal dignity and a faith in the future that have always been a staple of their dramatic output. Visual artists continue to work in abstract expressionism more than any new postmodern directions. Popular music has accepted the rise of rap, but the majority of musical groups are white males singing about love. And in the theatre, the romantic and sentimental musicals of Andrew Lloyd Webber have brought more people to Broadway than all dramas combined. [/FONT]
[FONT=Times New Roman, Times, serif]–adapted from Watson & McKernie, A Cultural History of Theatre, 1993.[/FONT]
The title “Postmodernism and Trends” already gives you clues about the possible questions. Always look at chapter headings and subheadings to predict essay question topics. Then use key words to craft essay questions designed to explore these topics. Here are some possible questions on the above passage:

• Describe the characteristics of the postmodern style of filmmaking.
• Relate the development of postmodern filmmaking to events occurring in the 1980s and 1990s.