No matter how hard you studied and how prepared you feel, there are times during a test when you just have to wing it. It’s a time when there’s nothing else left to do but guess and this article deals specifically with that kind of a sticky situation. Here are some clever MCQ hacks for you.
PLEASE NOTE: This does not mean you are not supposed to study for your exams. These exist just for your information and to be used in extreme cases.
Whilst some people disregard the Multiple Choice Question (MCQ) exam format as being ’too easy’, it is being increasingly used in all areas of education, from secondary to university and even professional education.
This is at least partially because it allows marking to be automated, but there are a number of benefits the system offers students, and contrary to popular belief, well-constructed MCQs can test high-level thinking and problem solving skills rather than simply being a test of fact recall.
Solve MCQs type Paper some Smart ways to answer easily
- The Golden Rule of Guessing:
This is the most important of all the MCQ hacks: abolish the wrong options first. They help you to narrow the question to at least three or, if you are lucky, to two options. Every MCQ has an option which basically screams “Of course I’m not right”. Always eliminate the obviously wrong choices first – they help through all the different types of problems there are. For example, if an option is “All” and you know one of the options to be wrong , bingo! You now have to choose from two options. - Ignore conventional wisdom:
You’ve probably been given test-taking advice along the lines of “always guess the middle answer if you don’t know” or “avoid any answer that uses the words ‘never,’ ‘always,’ ‘all,’ or ‘none'” at some point in your life. However, according to Poundstone, this conventional wisdom doesn’t hold up against statistics. In fact, he found that the answers “none of the above” or “all of the above” were correct 52% of the time. Choosing one of these answers gives you a 90% improvement over random guessing, he says. - Look at the surrounding answers:
Poundstone found correct answer choices hardly repeated consecutively, so looking at the answers of the questions you do know will help you figure out the ones you’re stuck on. For example, if you’re stuck on question No. 2, but know that the answer to No. 1 is A and the answer to No. 3 is D, those choices can probably be eliminated for No. 2. Of course, “knowledge trumps outguessing,” Poundstone reminds us. Cross out answers you know are wrong based on facts first. - Just have ONE correct answer:
A number of formats encourage users to ‘select ALL options that apply’, and do not disclose to students how many correct answers there are. This is a fairly lazy way to construct multiple choice questions, and it doesn’t allow you to isolate functional units of understanding to test them. - Don’t read too deep into the Questions:
When you really don’t know the answer to a question, it’s easy to over-analyze. You might wonder if it’s a trick question or if there’s some kind of deeper meaning. Most of the time the question means exactly what it says and you should take it at face value. If you’re already confused, there’s no point in making things even more complicated for yourself. - Save Time For When You Need It:
Your primary goal is to complete everything you know fast.
You don’t want to waste any extra time on questions that don’t require that extra time.
The point of getting through the rest of the test quickly is to allow you plenty of time for answering hard questions.
Then having time for checking your work and estimating your own final grade.
Keep this in mind as you’re going through the test.
It is difficult to focus on a goal. If you’re not focused then you won’t have time to get it done.
Although multiple choice questions seems to be very easy but you can do silly mistakes very easily. Utilize all time available to read the questions, look at all options and don’t panic. Don’t cheat not because it’s ethically wrong but also because teachers have new trick of changing the orders. of option.
