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Evaluating answers in reverse order

sh.francissh.francis Core Member
in General 246 karma

I've been experimenting with reading the answers in reverse order ie e) first and then a) last.

1) I feel like there's a psychological component to the ordering of answer choices, and the test creators design answers trying to trap test takers and their assumption is that the average test taker will read the answers from a) to e)

One trap that I feel like they use is sometimes some really juicy looking trap answers are in the earlier choices, and they are just looking for you to get emotionally tied to that answer and just skim read the answer choices.

If the ordering of answers plays into their strategies for trapping test takers, then starting in reverse order neutralizes their trap.

2) The most common correct answer is D, so starting in reverse order means you see D sooner.

3) Even if I'm wrong there's no real downside to going in reverse.

Thoughts?

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Comments

  • ELPISTOLERO9ELPISTOLERO9 Alum Member
    285 karma

    My first question would be on how many PT's did you base your second claim, and two are they more recent or not?
    I say this because I did some quick percentage math on some of the PT's I did and it varies, some sections have answers D and E be 44% of the time correct. Others have it as low as 24%.
    So, math wise you might be wrong.

    However, psychologically, you may be onto something. Especially for questions that you don't anticipate the answer for. But as the percentages don't tell us anything to be certain of according to my math (I may be wrong, i didn't account for every PT out there), the trap answer choices may as well be in the end. Which would make going in reverse a matter of personal choices rather than pure tactical.

  • sh.francissh.francis Core Member
    edited October 2022 246 karma

    For claim 2, I read it in powerscore.

    https://www.powerscore.com/lsat/help/guessing

    JY has done some analysis on this too with slightly different questions.

    https://7sage.com/discussion/#/discussion/7454/what-is-the-most-common-answer-choice-on-the-lsat

    Thanks for looking into it! I agree that its not provable through the numbers. I also don't think every question is structured in a way in which the order matters, it just feels that way sometimes for the more difficult questions. Could totally be psychological.

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