A recent study conducted by International Communications Research found that 69 percent of students between the ages of 13 and 17 agreed they could benefit from help on how to study and take tests better. Test taking is part of every student's academic experience from the earliest grades through college and the natural feelings of stress can hinder the performance of a highly capable student.

Parents and teachers need to take an active role in each student's effort to improve their skills on tests and exams throughout their educational career. David Deutsch, director of the Sylvan Learning Center in Plainview suggests the following test-taking tips and ideas to help students prepare for tests and reduce test day anxiety.

*For true or false questions: go with your instinct - it's often right. And look for trigger words like always and never. There are few things you can say never or always about, so the answer is probably false.

*On reading tests, scan for key words that relate to the question and always be on the lookout for the main idea and for answers to who, what, where, when, why and how.

* On language arts tests, quickly eliminate known misspellings. For fill-in sentences, read the entire sentence and look for context clues before trying each possible answer.

*On math tests, use scratch paper and write down the key information you need to solve the problems, such as number sentences and equations. Check answers by reversing, i.e. adding to check subtraction.

*Go through and answer the easy questions first - they take less time. Save the time for the difficult questions.

*Can't figure out the answer? See if you can eliminate at least one obviously wrong answer.

*Do a quick review of the entire test - see what kind and how many questions there are.

*Answer ALL questions. If it's a multiple-choice test, even if you're not sure of the answer, it's better to guess than to leave the answer blank.

*If you finish early, review your answers and be sure you didn't miss any questions.

In addition, Mr. Deutsch can offer test-taking tips for essay and other open-ended question based exams. Sylvan Learning Centers also have offices in Garden City, Lindenhurst, and Rockville Centre.

For additional information on preparing for each type of exam, or on standardized testing, visit www.educate.com/online/testing.html. Also available online, Sylvan Learning Center offers tips on writing, reading, making math learning fun and much more. For tips and information, visit www.educate.com/tips.