Most people working with university students have encountered it: a student who understands the course material but performs poorly on a multiple-choice exam. If prompted, the student might explain how much they studied yet cannot understand why their hours of studying did not change their usual low grade. In many of these cases, the issue is not content knowledge but unfamiliarity with how to approach multiple-choice exams strategically.
These test-taking practices are rarely taught directly, yet they can strongly shape student performance.
The goal of this article is not to introduce revolutionary test-taking tricks, but to show how strategies for navigating multiple-choice exams function as part of a hidden curriculum. By making these strategies explicit, instructors can better measure students’ understanding of course content rather than their familiarity with unspoken testing expectations.
Performance on multiple-choice exams in higher education contexts is often influenced by factors beyond content mastery, such as familiarity with test formats, time management strategies, and stress regulation. When these skills are not taught explicitly, they function as a “hidden curriculum” that advantages some students over others (Margolis 2001). I learned these rules through my family, across generations of educators in both the U.S. and Mexico.
In particular, my abuelo, Edilberto Valdespín de la Sancha, articulated a teaching philosophy grounded in the assumption that learning is universal but uneven in its timing: “todos los niños aprenden, unos antes que otros, pero todos aprenden.” In this guide, I draw from both my family’s insights and supplementary research to outline strategies that instructors can explicitly teach or model, making the hidden rules of test-taking visible so that all students have an equitable opportunity to demonstrate their learning.
The contribution of this article lies not in introducing new test-taking strategies, but in naming how such strategies are transmitted, withheld, and unevenly distributed. By making this process visible, the article contributes to scholarship of teaching and learning by reframing assessment performance as a pedagogical design issue rather than an individual student deficit.
Step 1: First Pass — Teaching Students to Answer What Clicks
Instructors can encourage students to:
- Read the entire question carefully before looking at answer choices
- Underline or highlight key words and phrases
- Answer questions that feel straightforward or familiar
- Skip and circle questions that feel confusing or time-consuming
- Cross out answer choices that are clearly incorrect
- Circle the question number or mark the question directly on the test so it is easy to spot when looping back
- Fill in the answer sheet as they go to avoid missed or misaligned bubbles
Why these strategies help:
- Early “quick wins” build momentum and support sustained concentration during the exam
- Skipping difficult questions preserves mental energy for more effortful, laborious thinking
- Crossing out incorrect answers and marking key words reduce cognitive load, allowing students to process questions more efficiently
- Visually marking questions minimizes unnecessary searching and helps students manage time efficiently
(Optional) Step 1.5: Intentional Break Between Passes
Instructors can explicitly name the option of taking a brief, intentional pause between passes through an exam. This is a test-taking practice I developed from overhearing teacher family conversations discussing long, high-stakes tests. This example illustrates how test-taking practices are often learned informally rather than addressed through instruction. Instructors can encourage students to:
- Pause intentionally after completing the first pass rather than immediately continuing
- If permitted, briefly step away from the testing context (e.g., use the restroom, stretch, take their mind off of the exam etc.)
- Return promptly and begin the next pass with clearer focus
Why this strategy helps:
- A brief pause can reduce accumulated stress and mental fatigue
- Students can return to more challenging questions with improved focus
Step 2: Loop Back Strategically
After completing a first pass, students can return to skipped questions and approach them with fresh eyes.
- If a question feels confusing or time-consuming, circle it and move on; you’ll be able to return to it later with a fresh perspective.
- If time is running out, make sure to select an answer for all multiple-choice or true/false questions.
Why these strategies help:
- Exposure to other questions often provides new clues or insights
- The brain continues working on difficult questions in the background
- Students feel less pressure once easier questions are complete
- Even a random guess is statistically better than leaving an answer blank
Step 3: Review & Confirm — Finish Strong
Before turning in their exam, students can use a final review to return to questions with a clearer focus. Instructors can encourage students to:
- Check that every question has an answer
- Actively match each test question number to the correct bubble on the answer sheet
- Change answers only if they are 100% confident a mistake was made
Why these strategies help:
- Final reviews can identify simple mistakes and protect points students have already earned
- Encouraging students to trust initial answers helps prevent anxiety-driven changes that lead to unnecessary mistakes
The steps above reflect elements of a hidden curriculum informed by my family’s intergenerational teaching insights.
Discussion
These strategies can be modeled briefly before exams, embedded in review sessions, or shared through exam preparation materials across disciplines. Our educational systems measure learning largely through these testing assessments. Educators might sometimes assume that it is up to the student to “just figure out” how to tackle these exams, but in reality, many students don’t even realize that such strategies exist to be learned.
Providing them with explicit guidance or resources turns this from an individual burden into a shared educational responsibility. When students are taught how to navigate exam formats, manage time, and regulate stress, assessments become more accurate and meaningful measures of learning.
Jessica Slater-Valdespín, MA, is an applied learning researcher affiliated with the University of Houston. Her work examines hidden curricula in educational systems and how unspoken expectations shape how students learn to navigate academic environments. She focuses on translating these concealable expectations into practical tools and supports that help students succeed.
Reference
Margolis, Eric, ed. 2001. The Hidden Curriculum in Higher Education. New York: Routledge.
