We’ve all been there. It’s the middle of the test. You turn the page, read the next question and *record scratch* – you have no idea how to answer it. So what do you do? Should you guess on the SAT? And if so, what are the best guessing strategies for the SAT?
Should You Guess on the SAT?
If you’re between guessing and leaving a question blank, you should always guess. There is no penalty for guessing on the SAT, so you have nothing to lose – and maybe even a point to gain!
Guessing is the Best Answer When…
Guessing should not be your go-to when taking the SAT, but sometimes it’s just necessary. If your choice is between spending too much time trying to solve a question you don’t understand and spending time on a question you actually know the answer to, it’s better to guess and move on to the question you know how to do. Here are a few situations you could encounter that would require you to guess your answer:
Reasons to Guess on the Math Section
Many students get stuck on math questions when they don’t know how to get started. If you’re drawing a blank, you may want to guess and move on. You can mark the problem to come back to later if you have time. Some other reasons you may need to guess:
- You don’t know how to start solving the problem, maybe because:
- You don’t recognize the type of problem
- You can’t remember how to solve that type of problem
- You solved the problem but your answer is not an answer choice
- You attempted, but got stuck halfway through
- You are running out of time to solve all the questions
Reasons to Guess on the Reading and Writing Sections
These sections always come down to time! Are you running out of time to read the passage, not understanding the passage, or spending too much time in general looking and deciding which answer to select? You want to guess when:
- You’ve eliminated the choices down to two but don’t know which choice is better
- You don’t understand what the question is asking – thus you cannot eliminate any choices
- If you had trouble understanding the passage, then inference questions or deeper understanding questions will be harder
- You are tempted to re-read the passage.
- You can return to a specific place in the passage and read to find an answer, but if you think you have to re-read the entire passage in order to answer one question, then you should guess.
- You don’t understand the graph or table
- You are running out of time to answer all the questions
Everything to Know About the SAT
How to Guess Strategically
If you make the decision to guess, there are a few strategies you can use to make the most of your answer. Your first step: eliminate any answers you can. Next:
Guessing Strategies for Math
- Are you looking for a large or small number?
- Compare the answer choices. You can eliminate outliers and narrow your guess to answers that look alike. For example, if the choices are A) 7, B) 13, C) -13 and D) 40, a good guess would be B or C.
Guessing Strategies for Reading and Writing
- Just like with the math section, compare the answer choices. What makes them similar and different? Use this information to help you determine what the error is and how to correct it.
- Can you get rid of any questions that don’t match the data or information given? This is great for ones where you’re interpreting charts or graphs, or paraphrasing a student’s notes.
Additional Strategies for Guessing
The moment you realize you don’t know where to start answering a question, you need to guess and move on. If guessing and moving on saves you time to answer a question you can actually get right, it’s worth it to move quickly even if you guess incorrectly. So, when you come across a question that stumps you, go through the strategies above, make a guess, and then quickly move on.
If guessing and moving on saves you time to answer a question you can actually get right, it’s worth it to move quickly even if you guess incorrectly.
Moving On is Key
“Moving on” is a key part of the guessing process. We’ve had students get stumped by a question – especially towards the beginning of a section – and really let it haunt them for the rest of the section. They’re totally thrown off, their confidence is shaken, and they can’t let the question go!
To avoid this, prepare yourself to guess before you take the test. Use the strategies above in your practice the week before the test, and mentally prepare yourself to guess on a few questions. Come test day, guessing will be just another one of the strategies in your test-day tool belt!
Prepare yourself to guess before you take the test. Use the strategies above in your practice the week before the test, and mentally prepare yourself to guess on a few questions. Come test day, guessing will be just another one of the strategies in your test-day tool belt!
And on test day, let the end of each section be a closed book. Don’t fret about the questions you guessed on. What’s done is done! You get a good score by being present and calm.
Guess Less by Studying Smarter
Ok, but the whole goal of studying for the SAT is to guess less, right? You want to be so confident in the material that you barely need to guess at all!
Get there with Olive Book’s SAT study courses. Each course is online, self-paced, and covers every section of the test through practice questions, videos, and study guides. You can check it out and enroll at www.olive-book.com!