There is a short list of words that quietly decide your test answers, and a literal brain reads right past them.
Only. Always. Never. Must. All. Every. Except. Not.
When one of these shows up in a question, the test is usually checking something narrower than you think. Not whether a method works, but whether it is the only method that works. Those are different questions with different answers.
If you read literally, or you are dyslexic, your eyes lock onto the concrete words and skip the small one carrying all the weight.
So build one habit. When you see an absolute word, stop and circle it before you answer. Then ask, is this asking for an example, or for the one and only truth?
That single pause has saved my clients points they had already earned.
Which of these words has tripped you up before?
Transcription:
So when a question contains words like only, always, never, must, all, every, exclusively, and solely, little trick words there. If you wanna write them down on a cheat sheet, I highly recommend it, and/or go over to my article about it. There’s probably a link below if this is YouTube. Go check it out. Those words should immediately trigger caution.
Caution! And you should ask, is the test asking whether this is an acceptable method or the only acceptable method? These are completely different questions, and that helps you answer the bigger true falseness of that. There is a five-step question breakdown process, and yes, I had to put it down below, and I’m kinda reading it real quickly.
So I wanna be accurate for you. You matter to me. That five-step process. Step one, find the action word. So circle or underline words such as only, best, most, least, first, last, primary, required, acceptable, not. These words often determine the answer. So the ex- in our example, the word only in the test is really asking, are there any other acceptable methods?
Maybe that’s an easier ans- question to answer. Okay, so that was step one. Step two, translate the darn question into plain English. Before answering, restate the question. A padlock and chain is the only acceptable means. Is a padlock and chain the only, the one and only method allowed? Many dyslexic learners gain accuracy when they force themselves to reword the question.
All of a sudden, you can hear it and be like, “Well, no, that doesn’t make sense.” So step two. Step three, identify what is being tested. Ask what regulation or concept is the examiner actually checking. They’re not checking about the valve, but the method of securing that discharge valve. This keeps the brain from chasing irrelevant details.
And then look for the absolutes. Treat absolute words, we went over those before, that’s number four, as warning signs. Words that frequently make statements false. Only, always, never, all, every. Key hints there. And then step five, ask the opposite question. Instead of, “Is this true?” ask, “Could there be another acceptable method?”
This often reveals the trap. A great acronym to remember that’s really easy, think of a red stop sign, S-T-O-P, stop. Before you take a test, that is a great way to slow that literal thinker brain down just for a second. S is slow down. T is target the keywords. O is own the words, so if possible, when you have time, restate the question in plain English. And P is prove it. Ask what exact regulation, and that will help you answer those questions even easier.