Ok, here’s my theory. I’ve been using it since the 5th grade and it seems to work out well. If you don’t know the answer to the multiple choice question, you can backtrack the test-maker’s mind and select the one he/she intends.
Almost all tests include one right, one close, and one wild left-field answer. Let’s say there’s 2 more for kicks. That’s 5 choices.
a) ABCDE
b) BACDE
c) ACBDE
d) ABCED
e) EDCBA
Using the rules above, you know that the test maker took the right answer, changed it a little 3 times, and then changed it a lot. Looking at the answers, we can see that 3 times, the first letter is A. The second letter is most commonly B. The third letter is C 4 times. Fourth is D 3 times. Lastly, E occurs fifth 3 times.
From that, we can tell that the answer is ABCDE. E is clearly the wild card, being ‘right’ only once. The others are right 3 out of 5 letters. Thus, without knowing the question, we can select a w/ confidence. It’s even easier if you can pick out the wild card from actual knowledge of the test material.
Recently, I used this idea to choose from:
a) Eumaus and Telemachus
b) Eumaus and Odyseus
c) Odyseus and Laertes
I guessed b since it’s ‘a and c combined’ and was right. Does anyone else use this idea to guess? Know of it? Find it credible or faithful? I’d guestimate the success chances at 75%.
Most MC tests done by a professional agency are completely randomized; if I made a test for a class, I’d likely also use some sort of randomizing agent (easy to write a quick program to do that on say a TI-80+ series calculator). As Linus once said after he came up with what he thought was a foolproof T/F test strategy, “I trued when I should have falsed, and falsed when I should have trued.”
The second strategy tho is certainly valid; on SAT sentence completion questions I tell my students that, on a two blank question, to find all synonym pairs for each of the 2 blanks. The correct answer is likely the one which contains the combination of words from the pairs you chose. Doesn’t work all the time tho.
My method, which seemed to serve me well, was to pick one option (usually C) and always answer that unless it was obviously wrong, in which case I would always answer with the secondary option, which was also always the same. That one varied with my mood.
I have taken a lot of multiple choice questions, and one method never fails.
two answers are always completely wrong.
one other answer is close but not right.
the last is always right.
just pick the one that is closest to what the question really is. you are down to just a fifty fifty chance if you dont know at all, because the other answers are completely wrong
I use the OP’s method (or did back when I had to take tests–yay being out of school!). I’ve always done really well on multiple choice tests, for what it’s worth.
“D. All of the Above” is usually a safe bet, unless “E. None of the Above” is present, in which case, you need to check if any answers are of the “obviously wrong” variety.
What really gets me is “A. A; B. B; C. A and B; D. neither A nor B”