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Honestly I go with my gut. If I change answers I'll most definitely get it wrong. If you pick an answer but tag it to come back to it, and still don't know the answer, leave it on what you first thought it could be.Do you guys have a strategy for guessing?
Typically whenever I see a question that I have NO idea about, I end up always picking "A" so statistically I might get 25% of my guesses right.
However usually when I narrow down the answer to a few choices, I just pick the top-most question just to avoid answering questions with gut feelings. Is this a good or bad idea? How would you guys recommend guessing if the answer is narrowed down to 2 or 3 choices?
CH3CHCH2 in a reaction with KMnO4 will yield which product:
a. CH3CH2CH3 + CO2
b.CH3CH2COOH + CO2
c.CH3CH2COO + CO2
d. CH3COOHCH2 +CO2
Did you write this out correctly? CH3CHCH2 is 3 carbons whereas every choice has 4 carbons in the answer. I think the answer should be CH3COOH + CO2? Dunno if it's wise to try and match the number of atoms using KMnO4 unless the equation they give you is balanced because KMnO4 is usually in excess in these types of reaction.
Also I'm confused about to what extent should KMnO4 oxidize alkenes? I always thought KMnO4 oxidized alkenes into carboxylic acids and ketones:
But I just found this thing in which it only oxidizes alkenes into diols:
Haha...I guess it's depends person to person, I just know from my experience. I think I ace a test and get it back, only to notice the ones I've thought twice about and changed last minute are wrong and my first gut answer was correct after all.Going with your "first instinct" is a very popular myth.
Research shows that students who go back and change their answers are significantly more likely to raise their scores. I believe this is pretty well documented:
http://www.jstor.org/pss/30182052
Even I have a hard time believing it but it makes sense if you think about it.
As for guessing, I suppose what the OP posted is about as far as you can go if you really know nothing about the question. However, like the guy above said, you can often find many hints in the question if you look carefully at your options.
I think I ace a test and get it back, only to notice the ones I've thought twice about and changed last minute are wrong and my first gut answer was correct after all.
The only reason I know is because I'm one of those people who puts a mark beside each question I make an educated guess on or guess completely. I review each and every exam, so I'm pretty sure which one's I changed from right to wrong or vice versa.What if you actually got those questions right by changing your answer? You probably wouldn't remember it.
I believe it is something like 2/3rds of the time, a student who changes his/her answer ends up with a higher score.
Going from right to wrong feels worse than being wrong in the first place. Which may be why people are so hesitant to do it.
Furthermore, you're more likely to remember going from right to wrong than you are to remember going from wrong to right. If you got the question right, you probably won't think much of it. Do you really go over every single question you got right? Odds are, you mainly focus on the ones you got wrong.
I think it's something like 70 years of research that has been done on this. The data is pretty clear but people don't believe it lol (I'm still kind of on the fence too).