Test Meditations: Process of Elimination

Process of Elimination isn’t just a tool. It’s a mindset.

Many students approach these tests looking for “the right answer” or “what makes sense.”

Don’t do that.

The wrong answers on these tests are wrong. Aka there’s an actual problem with the answers. Focus on identifying these problems and narrowing down to the answer that ‘isn’t wrong’.

The right answer is the only one that isn’t wrong.

When you look for the ‘right answer’, you’re going to be focused on the parts of answers that work. Problem is, even wrong answers have parts that work. You’ll inevitably get tricked by part right/part wrong answers a couple times, which is enough to drag your score down.

When you properly focus on the wrong answers, you’ll instead eliminate all of those part wrong/part right choices.

Plus, focusing on wrong answers gives you a way to get started on every single question, even the ones that might be worded or set up in a daunting or confusing way

Be careful though – don’t just eliminate an answer because it doesn’t “seem right”. Make sure you have a specific reason to eliminate. For SAT Reading & ACT Reading tips, see [3 Reasons Answers Are Wrong].

Remember, these tests have to be written so that both the right and wrong answers could be defended as such in court. They often revolves around small technicalities - not the sorts of things that are going to jump out to us instinctively as “the right answer”.