One of my favorite things while taking an exam is to see a question that I have no clue about. Let me give you some of the characteristics of a test question that make me the happiest:
• I don’t even understand what they’re asking.
• I don’t recognize any of the answer choices.
• The question is 2 or 3 paragraphs long.
Why would anyone LOVE these questions? Because they only take me 10 seconds to answer, which means I pick up 50 seconds for another question.
If I have NO CLUE after quickly reading the question, I HAPPILY skip it. I choose an answer at random and keep right on moving with a SMILE on my face. These are gifts. They are not places to get bogged down and fret and sweat and gnash your teeth.
SKIP THEM. Be happy that you saved all that time. You don’t need a 100%. Get the hard ones wrong. Get the questions that take 5-10 minutes to answer wrong.
This isn’t advice for the masses. Not everyone can stomach it. Not everyone’s ego can handle not getting a 100%.
Ok, so to be completely honest, one thing that’s better than immediately realizing that I don’t know an answer is immediately realizing that I DO know an answer. That comes from practice.
That comes from using The Final Step
Brian Wallace
