4
Example: (Peek)
• Which of the following sequences is in order?
3. The Look
The“Look”question type is the type of question which leaves you no
choice, to answer the question you must look at the choices given.
Approach
“Look”questions are generally straightforward. Look at each choice
and decide on its validity before looking at the next choice. On your
scratch paper, eliminate obviously incorrect choices before reading
the next choice. Choices about which you are uncertain, should be
indicated with some distinctive mark of your choosing. (One pos-
sibility is a“?”.) This method will save you from having to reread all
five choices if you are not completely certain among a few choices.
(In our seminars we include a section on “making good use of your
scratch paper”.)
Example: (Look)
• Which of the following statements is correct?
• Of the following, which does not belong?
Section 6: The Test Answer Formats
Just as with the question types, the answer choices can be catego-
rized many ways. We will break the answer choices into four types
as follows:
1. Not a true statement
Example:
As the frequency increases the penetration
increases.
2. Half true, half not true
Example:
Since resolution improves with increasing fre-
quency, using a higher frequency will signifi-
cantly improve image quality at deep imaging
depths.
3. True but irrelevant to the question
Example:
Why is backing material used in ultrasound
transducers?
a) because lateral resolution improves with a
narrower beamwidth.
4. Completely true and relevant
(This is the one to shoot for!!)
Section 7: Logic and Reasoning Skills
There are many tools from logic and reasoning which are invaluable
for taking multiple choice exams. Although it is not reasonable to
teach an entire course of logic and reasoning in this section, we can
give you a few helpful hints.
1. The end of many questions is part of the answer. If you
ignore this fact, you will suffer the consequences!
If the voltage is decreased by a factor of 2, the intensity is
decreased by:
(The first part of the answer is: the intensity
is decreased by. Note that the word decreased already im-
plies a negative number, so logically, your choice cannot be
a negative number.)
2. Use keywords to dissect a problem.
Which of the following sequences is in the correct
increasing
order?
(The use of the word increasing suggests
that there may be sequences in the correct order which are
decreasing and hence, not the right answer.)
The
best
reason why the focus of a transducer is
shallow is:
(The use of the word best specifies that there
may be more than one choice which could be correct, how-
ever, one of the correct responses is better than the other
correct responses. The best “correct response” is the one
which gives the most specific and/or the most comprehen-
sive information.)
3. Look for words of inversion or exclusion.
Which of the following statements is
not
true about…
(The use of the word not inverts the answer – for this
question, the correct response is a false statement.)
All of the following are true
except…
(The use of the
word except excludes choices – for this question the correct
response is also a false statement. This type of question
is very useful, since four choices are correct, and contain
information which may help solve other questions.) Some
examples of words which exclude, restrict or invert are: not,
opposite, except, decreasing, only, most, least, etc.
4. Look for choices which are unrelated.
(Many times choices
that are given are true but unrelated to the question. These
questions typically catch people who have memorized, and
not really learned the material. These people recognize the
statement as true, but do not realize that it is unrelated to
the question being asked. Don’t just memorize!)
