Don’t consider the strategies (heuristics) given below when you think you know the answer. They are correct only 70% of the time, so only use them when you are forced to guess.
1. If two of the answer choices are the same or very similar, they are probably both wrong.
2. If one answer choice is broad and includes one of the other answers, then the narrower one is usually wrong.
3. Going back to a question and changing the answer is not necessarily a good idea. The only time you can know for sure that it’s worth changing is if you realize that you had read the question incorrectly. Don’t change your answer choice simply because “you had a change of heart”!
4. Contrary to the real world, patients in exam-land follow these rules: If they are very obese, the source of all of their complaints is always a condition that is predisposed by obesity. If they deny illicit drug use, they are telling the truth. And if they are a female of childbearing age, they are pregnant until proven otherwise.
5. Think about the approach taken by the question writer. They usually begin with the correct answer choice, and then create the incorrect choices by making slight variations away from the correct answer. When they are finished, the correct answer is likely to be the one that best resembles the majority of the other answer choices. The following examples are applications of this principle.
6. If most of the answer choices are of a certain category and a single answer is not of that category, the single is probably wrong.
Copyright © 2016, Rajnish Mago, MD. All rights reserved. May not be reproduced in any form without express written permission.
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