When answering the questions that you know on a test that has a separate answer sheet, make sure that you skip the same questions on the answer sheet as you do on the test itself. This way, your answers won’t become off set.
When a question with an absolute modifier is true, it’s often a well-known, common sense fact that doesn’t make for a good test question.
Other in-between words include usually, often, seldom, and frequently.
For instance, if you’re stumped on a question with no absolute or in-between modifiers, and if the answer above is true and the one below is false, your best bet is to go with true.
For instance, if a question asks, “A salamander is an,” and “amphibian” is the only choice that starts with a vowel, you’ll know it’s the right answer.
If you’re completely stumped and can’t rule out any choices, going with all or none could offer a good probability of choosing correctly. When all or none of the above are choices in every question, they’re the correct response as often as 65% percent of the time. [10] X Research source
Keep in mind that it’s always better to study the material instead of trying to outsmart your teacher. If you have a choice between studying your notes or figuring out how often “True” is the right answer, go with studying.
The SAT used to have a guess penalty. It ignored blank responses and deducted points only for wrong answers. However, College Board got rid of the guess penalty in 2016. The PSAT, ACT, and AP tests don’t use a guess penalty either. For each of these tests, you get a point for a correct answer and zero points for a blank or incorrect answer. [13] X Research source Standardized tests are subject to change, so make sure you know if an updated test includes a guess penalty.
For example, suppose a multiple choice question asks if a weta is a plant, insect, fish, or mammal. A later question asks, “How many species of weta have entomologists identified?” If you know entomologists study insects, you’ll know the answer to the earlier question.
