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SAT Study Guides
2.8 SAT Critical Reading - When to Gamble - Guessing
Is it a good idea to guess answers to questions on the SAT test? Again, that depends on where you are in the SAT test, but here's an overall rule that applies to Math, Critical Reading, and Writing questions:
If you can eliminate one or more answer choices, take a guess. Statistically, your score will slowly go up. Why is that? A wrong answer is worth -1⁄4 of a point, right? So a blind guess has a one in five, or 1⁄5 chance of being right. Not good odds, because you'll lose more points than you'd get over time. But if you eliminate just one answer, you now have a 1⁄4 chance of being right – which means you're breaking even. Eliminate two? 1⁄3 chance.
Over the length of a whole test, with those odds, your score will slowly creep up since the chances of being right are greater than the points off you'll get if you're wrong. That's where your judgment and the Pacing Strategy come in. If you're on an easier question, and you can confidently eliminate an answer or choice or two, take a guess. If you're on a hard question, you might be better served skipping it, since you also have to account for the possibility you might have fallen for a trick. On the other hand, if you know you've skipped too many and should probably answer one of the harder ones, definitely answer the one in which you can eliminate a choice or two – that will always be your better bet.
