Myth: If you’re unsure of your answer when taking a test, it’s best to stick with your initial hunch
by Sylvia Tsang
As most of you know, midterm crunch time is coming up soon, and with this, brings a lot of stress and tension. As wonderful as introductory 200 level courses are, they also come with a bane of existence- multiple choice tests. A test is a test, but many undergraduates have admitted that they would prefer sitting on a bed of nails than write a multiple choice test.
The thing that everyone hates the most about multiple choice tests are often how similar two choices can be, and then they are left debating to oneself whether The U.S Constitution was adopted in either 1770 or 1780. The most widely accepted piece of test-taking folklore is to stick with your original answer. Personally, I can’t even count the number of times teachers and professional figures have told me that. But contrary to the popular myth and what I’ve been told, I’ve never followed that rule. Part of the reason is that growing up, my parents always made me double check my exams twice, back in the good ole days when my parents still drove me to my piano theory exams, they would make sure I stayed the full 2 hours of the exam and wouldn’t come pick me up any earlier than that. They’ve always said “You’re bound to find some mistakes in your answers”. Since then, I’ve just learnt to apply the double checking method to all my future tests that I have written- including ones involving multiple choice.
Scientific findings (Benjamin et al., 1984; Geiger, 1996; Skinner, 1983; Waddell & Blankenship, 1994) have found that when students change answers on multiple –choice tests, they’re actually more likely to change from a wrong word to a right answer than from a right to a wrong answer. In addition, students who change more answers tend to receive higher test scores than other students. This is because answer-changers are higher test performers to begin with.
So why do students believe that changing their initial answers is a bad idea? Research has shown that there are three likely explanations that come to mind. As mentioned above, professors, counsellors, strategic advisors have always said changing answers are a bad idea. So this mistaken belief is spread partly by word of mouth. Research suggests that students are more likely to remember the times they changed their answers form right to wrong than those they changed from wrong to right. Because the bitter taste of incorrect decisions lingers longer than the memory of decisions (“Why the hell did I change that answer? I had it right the first time.”). As a consequence, this rule of thumb, known in psychology as a heuristic becomes a mental shortcut, and leads students to overestimate the risk of committing errors when changing answers. Research also shows that students tend to overestimate how many answers they get right on multiple choice tests, so they may just assume that changing answers is like to lower their score. All this being said, when writing a multiple choice test, we shouldn’t just change our answers if we are just plain guessing if the answer is right are wrong. Changing answers only becomes beneficial when one has a good reason to suspect their answer is wrong.
Wrapping things up, because our gut feelings are just gut feelings and nothing more, it would make sense that we do best NOT trusting our hunches. If we have a good reason to believe we’re wrong, we should go with what our head tells us, not our gut. Keep this blog in mind when writing your next Multiple Choice Test, and don’t beat yourself up for changing your answer. We are only human. Best of luck studying for your first midterm, but if worst comes to worst and you are sitting in ST 148 thinking you’ve never seen the material on the test before. Try some of these ideas in the link below. Maybe you can help lower the class average so Dr. Kadri will scale the marks.
Scientific findings (Benjamin et al., 1984; Geiger, 1996; Skinner, 1983; Waddell & Blankenship, 1994) have found that when students change answers on multiple –choice tests, they’re actually more likely to change from a wrong word to a right answer than from a right to a wrong answer. In addition, students who change more answers tend to receive higher test scores than other students. This is because answer-changers are higher test performers to begin with.
So why do students believe that changing their initial answers is a bad idea? Research has shown that there are three likely explanations that come to mind. As mentioned above, professors, counsellors, strategic advisors have always said changing answers are a bad idea. So this mistaken belief is spread partly by word of mouth. Research suggests that students are more likely to remember the times they changed their answers form right to wrong than those they changed from wrong to right. Because the bitter taste of incorrect decisions lingers longer than the memory of decisions (“Why the hell did I change that answer? I had it right the first time.”). As a consequence, this rule of thumb, known in psychology as a heuristic becomes a mental shortcut, and leads students to overestimate the risk of committing errors when changing answers. Research also shows that students tend to overestimate how many answers they get right on multiple choice tests, so they may just assume that changing answers is like to lower their score. All this being said, when writing a multiple choice test, we shouldn’t just change our answers if we are just plain guessing if the answer is right are wrong. Changing answers only becomes beneficial when one has a good reason to suspect their answer is wrong.
Wrapping things up, because our gut feelings are just gut feelings and nothing more, it would make sense that we do best NOT trusting our hunches. If we have a good reason to believe we’re wrong, we should go with what our head tells us, not our gut. Keep this blog in mind when writing your next Multiple Choice Test, and don’t beat yourself up for changing your answer. We are only human. Best of luck studying for your first midterm, but if worst comes to worst and you are sitting in ST 148 thinking you’ve never seen the material on the test before. Try some of these ideas in the link below. Maybe you can help lower the class average so Dr. Kadri will scale the marks.
Jokes jokes jokes.
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