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• 1 Like

  AllezAllez21 Member Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  June 2017 1917 karma

  I think it's a judgement call as to how well you think you'll be able to answer the questions that you totally skipped.

  If you blindly guess on a question, you've got a 20% chance of getting it right. If you can eliminate 3 answers after working on it for a bit, you up your chances to 50%.

  If you work on questions that are 70% certain, you might get your confidence up to 90%.

  Say there are 3 questions that you skipped and 3 questions with which you are 70% confident. If you spend all the time on the skipped questions to get them to 50%, your expected return would be .5(3) + .7(3) = 3.6. If you only focus on the 70% questions, your expected return would be .2(3) + .9(3) = 3.3.

  That's a little abstract, but if you start thinking about which questions you think you have the best return on investment, it might help with strategy. I think more broadly you've just got to make sure you don't sink too much time into any one question. Even upon a return, you've got to be willing to pull out and go to a different question if it's not clicking. The worst return on investment would be if you spent all your time on only one question. Better to narrow down to 2 answers, guess, and move on to the next one.
• Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  June 2017 27860 karma

  @AllezAllez21 said:
  Say there are 3 questions that you skipped and 3 questions with which you are 70% confident. If you spend all the time on the skipped questions to get them to 50%, your expected return would be .5(3) + .7(3) = 3.6. If you only focus on the 70% questions, your expected return would be .2(3) + .9(3) = 3.3.

  I really like this approach. I have a post somewhere where I really dig deep into this. You have to think in terms of probability. For me, I typically benefit more from going back to my 50/50s first, and then moving to my skips, but that's just how my sections tend to play out. I normally have three 50/50s, and two skips. So that's 150% confidence to be gained on three 50/50s, and 160% on two skips. The difference is that I'm usually able to resolve my 50/50s quickly. So in less time, I can gain about the same level of confidence. It's all about return on time investment.

  Another thing that's important is to have a dynamic marking strategy. You should not just be circling any question you want to come back to. A 50/50 should be distinct from a blind guess which should be distinct from high confidence. That way you can quickly see what's what which will allow you to maximize that end time.
• 1 Like

  AllezAllez21 Member Inactive Sage Inactive ⭐

  June 2017 1917 karma

  @"Cant Get Right" said:
  Another thing that's important is to have a dynamic marking strategy. You should not just be circling any question you want to come back to. A 50/50 should be distinct from a blind guess which should be distinct from high confidence. That way you can quickly see what's what which will allow you to maximize that end time.

  I fully agree with this, and it's something I am trying to improve. Right now I have 3 tiers, a "least confident/totally skipped" tier, a "down to two answers but leaning towards one" tier, and "pretty confident but not totally sure" tier. I'm also playing around with a numerical marking system.
• Cant Get Right Yearly + Live Member Sage ⭐ 🍌 7Sage Tutor

  June 2017 27860 karma

  I circle my 50/50s, double circle my skips/really low confidence, and slash through my high confidence/didn't read all answer choices, and then don't mark at all when I'm confident enough. Finding my system and practicing it and refining it until it was second nature became a vital part of my studies. Effective use of that extra time, for me, is the difference between the -4 range and the -1 range. I don't just understand every question right away. But I do know how to manage my time effectively and maximize my returns for every second.
• AtheA Free Trial Member

  June 2017 10 karma

  Really great insights. Thanks so much