TMU Test Preparation 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which type of memory is primarily tested when an exam requires you to apply a formula to a novel problem you have never seen before?
- Episodic memory
- Procedural memory
- Semantic memory (Correct answer)
- Implicit memory
Correct answer: Semantic memory
Semantic memory stores factual and conceptual knowledge, including formulas and their applications.
Question 2: TMU applicants are often assessed on critical thinking. Which of the following best describes a critical thinking error called 'hasty generalization'?
- Drawing a broad conclusion from too few examples (Correct answer)
- Assuming correlation implies causation
- Using emotional language to persuade
- Attacking the person rather than the argument
Correct answer: Drawing a broad conclusion from too few examples
Hasty generalization occurs when a sweeping conclusion is drawn from an insufficient or unrepresentative sample.
Question 3: A student consistently scores well on practice tests but panics during the real exam. This is most likely due to:
- Inadequate content knowledge
- Test anxiety interfering with retrieval (Correct answer)
- Poor guessing strategy
- Studying the wrong material
Correct answer: Test anxiety interfering with retrieval
Test anxiety activates the stress response, which can block access to well-learned information stored in memory.
Question 4: Which of the following reading strategies best helps identify the author's purpose in a passage?
- Counting the number of paragraphs
- Identifying the thesis statement and recurring themes (Correct answer)
- Reading only the first and last sentences
- Focusing exclusively on statistics cited
Correct answer: Identifying the thesis statement and recurring themes
The thesis and recurring themes reveal why the author wrote the passage and what argument they are advancing.
Question 5: What is 'spaced repetition' and why is it effective for exam preparation?
- Reviewing material in increasingly longer intervals to exploit the spacing effect (Correct answer)
- Studying the same material every day for equal durations
- Taking a break of one week between study sessions
- Alternating between two subjects every hour
Correct answer: Reviewing material in increasingly longer intervals to exploit the spacing effect
Spaced repetition leverages the psychological spacing effect, which shows memory retention is higher when reviews are spread over time.
Question 6: In a time-limited math section, a student encounters a very difficult problem early on. What is the best strategy?
- Spend as much time as needed to solve it before moving on
- Skip it, mark it, continue, and return if time allows (Correct answer)
- Guess immediately without any analysis
- Leave it blank and focus only on easy questions
Correct answer: Skip it, mark it, continue, and return if time allows
Flagging and moving on preserves time for questions you can answer, maximizing total score.
Question 7: How does 'elaborative interrogation' differ from simply re-reading notes?
- It requires asking 'why' and 'how' questions to connect new information to prior knowledge (Correct answer)
- It involves reading notes aloud instead of silently
- It means annotating notes with different colored pens
- It requires summarizing notes into shorter bullet points
Correct answer: It requires asking 'why' and 'how' questions to connect new information to prior knowledge
Elaborative interrogation deepens encoding by linking new facts to existing mental frameworks, unlike passive re-reading.
TMU Test Preparation 3
Which type of memory is primarily tested when an exam requires you to apply a formula to a novel problem you have never seen before?