To omit? Or not to omit?

<p>I never omit questions on the SAT. Simply because the math says that if you guessed COMPLETELY randomly, you should come out with the same score as if you had omitted questions. On top of that I figure that since I am reading the question and doing some figuring, I should have a decent idea. I mean, I figure that my "guess", whether super educated or just an inkling, is going to be correct more often than had I been randomly guessing, so I figure that my score will go up if I always guess when I'm not sure.</p>

<p>Do you guys omit? Is there a flaw that I am missing in my strategy. I feel like it will more likely than not work out in my favor. No? </p>

<p>What is your strategy. When, if ever, do YOU omit?</p>

<p>I came to the conclusion that even though I omit, I get the same number of questions wrong as I would have if I didn’t omit PLUS the ones I omitted… So I never omit now, and I seem to be doing better on standardized tests.</p>

<p>I think it has to do something with psychology - the more I omit along the way, the more I think that the test is hard, and then I omit some more, second guess some more, omit some more, second guess some more, and end up doing worse than if I hadn’t omitted at all.</p>

<p>I only omit when I’m absolutely puzzled by the question. But I make a habit of eliminating the question and then guessing.</p>

<p>I guess we’ll see how that turns out in couple hours…</p>

<p>^ Are you talking about the SATs or the APs?</p>

<p>yeah, ha… i am quite nervous lol</p>

<p>SAT I</p>

<p>I didn’t take any AP classes this year :/</p>

<p>Haha I never omit questions on CR .I try to eliminate the obviously wrong answer and since the guess penalty is only 0.25/100 when comes to 50-50 I shoot at the answer that is not that obvious</p>

<p>I was talking about the SAT. But I used the same strategy for the APs.</p>

<p>Try not to omit. But then again, this also depends on what sort of score range you are going for. If you are trying to get above a 2200, or even 2100, you are better off taking an educated guess (probability says this will work out in your favor over the long run). Remember to go with gut instinct.</p>

<p>Thanks, thats what I try to do. I was just curious if other people employ the same “strategy”.</p>

<p>I omit questions on SAT IIs with large curves, but usually not on the SAT I unless I’m clueless.</p>

<p>I never omit</p>

<p>If your scoring 700+ on a certain section then you should make a best-guess. Since you’re already good at that section you’d have a higher probability than others of guessing correctly.</p>

<p>I remember when I was studying for the math portion, I’d gotten used to omitting at least one of the last questions in each section, especially if it had to do with geometry. I would always make a guess but not bubble it for fear it would reduce my score. But once when I was correcting one of my BB tests I saw that I had gotten the correct answer (as marked in my book, but not my answer sheet) to what I thought was a pretty impossible geometry problem. I just guessed from looking at the figure even though I could not rigorously prove my answer. After that I made a habit of best-guessing tough questions unless I was completely baffled by them. I found that my educated guesses turned out be correct a majority of the time. I only broke the 700-mark when I started doing this.</p>

<p>So, if your demonstrably good at a certain portion, then go for it. You’re guesses will probably turn out to be correct. But if your scoring mid-600’s and below then it’s pretty evident that you don’t have all of the concepts down and you should study the ones you don’t know again.</p>

<p>It’s a little hard to apply this to CR, however, since I don’t see how one can reasonably study for that section aside from learning vocab, which is actually a relatively small portion of the CR section.</p>