考试利器：不会做？高效猜答案的4大招！_BEC初级作文

考试利器：不会做？高效猜答案的4大招！

1. Ignore conventional wisdom.

抛弃传统思维。

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.

可能曾经有人建议你在应试时沿用“如果不知道，就猜中间的答案”或“避免使用 ‘从不’，‘总是’，‘全部’或者‘没有’等用词”。但是，根据庞德斯通（Poundstone）所说，这一传统智慧不能支撑统计数据。事实上，他发现“以上都不是”或“上述所有”的回答52％的几率是正确的。他说选择这些回答中的一个会比随意猜测的正确率提高90%。

2. Look at the surrounding answers.

看看周围的答案。

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.