Important Test-Taking Strategies for Answering Fill in the Blanks

Fill in the Blanks – These are the questions that may have a sentence or a paragraph with a blank space. This space can be a word, number, symbol, or phrase. It is a very important section when you are appearing for any competitive examinations. For such types of questions, it is important to read the entire passage very carefully as these questions test the candidate’s recall ability to recognize.

It is critical and imperative to understand which words should be appropriate to put in blanks. Likewise, there are many important guidelines that you should follow to ensure you deliver correct responses in the exam.

Guidelines for Answering Fill-in-the-Blank

Certain guidelines should be followed while answering the fill in the blanks questions.

• While answering them, you should concentrate on the number of blanks and never assume the length of the blank. It has nothing to do with the answer.
• You should read each question carefully and be sure of what is being asked. You must look for the important keywords in the sentence that may help trigger some response.
• You should provide a descriptive answer when you are not sure of a definitive response or the keyword. You may be rewarded marks for your efforts in some cases.
• Always look closely at the words that are immediately preceding the blanks. If the word is “an”, you should give a response that begins with a vowel (a, e, i, o, u).
• Fill in blanks questions are different from another set of questions as they demand recall skills. They require producing a concept based on the understanding of the subject matter.

They form a useful tool to assess acquisition of the knowledge.

Read the sentences carefully

While answering the questions, watch out for the responses carefully. Understand the core and crux of every sentence and identify the logical structure of each. This will be helpful to determine what kinds of words are required based on context.

Consider the type of blank used

Multiple blanks denote that more than one response or the word is required. The length of the blank will determine whether the answer should be long or short.

Write down the best answer while responding

Even when you don't know the answer, there is a chance you can make it right by taking an educated guess. You can use a different phrase or use the relevant amount of words that can fit if you don't want to leave any empty response. Never leave the answer blank as in some tests partial credit is often provided if the response is close to the correct answer.

After writing the answer read the sentence carefully to make it sound right

It is important to be confident with what you are writing down. Read your response and check if it sounds right otherwise make a point to read the answer again and again till you are satisfied.

Advantages of questions related to Fill in the blanks-

• Easier to write
• Limited guessing
• Higher reliability

We hope the above-mentioned strategies would be helpful for you when dealing with questions related to fill in the blanks during the exam.