5 ms·
Back when I was in school I noticed a pattern emerge while taking tests over freshman year: If I changed a test answer a statistically HUGE amount of the time I
by mdakin 20y ago
Back when I was in school I noticed a pattern emerge while taking tests over freshman year: If I changed a test answer a statistically HUGE amount of the time I changed it from the correct answer to an incorrect one. After noticing this pattern I stopped second guessing myself!
- zaidf 20y agoLast semester I had a professor who banned changing answers once you fill it in on the scantron. That means no erasers. He gave a similar line of reasoning as your experience.
- nostrademons 20y agoI actually noticed the opposite pattern: about 95% of the time, the double-check caught careless mistakes and I ended up with a higher score for it. Perhaps it was because of my typical test-taking strategy: I'd race through the questions and answer every one immediately, then I'd go back and double-check all the steps to make sure I hadn't done anything silly. I did notice that my score tended to decrease if I triple- or quadruple-checked my answers, though.
- mdakin 20y agoI guess the real key is to "know thyself" well enough to know one's optimal strategy!