To Guess, or not to Guess ... on practices

[kabtq9s]

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My sister (accepted to dental school) keeps telling me to not guess on the last questions/passages that I don't finish on my practice MCATs. Instead, leave what I don't finish unanswered to get an accurate estimation on what my score will most likely be, and then do the rest of the those unanswered qs under timed conditions.

should I trust her ?

 

[Zona Pellucida]

My sister (accepted to dental school) keeps telling me to not guess on the last questions/passages that I don't finish on my practice MCATs. Instead, leave what I don't finish unanswered to get an accurate estimation on what my score will most likely be, and then do the rest of the those unanswered qs under timed conditions.

should I trust her ?

Why?

If you ran out of time wouldn't you guess fast at the end to make sure you at least made an attempt to get some more points. This is a 25% chance instead of a 0% chance.

Practice what you will do.

 

[kabtq9s]

her mentality is that, if I guess I might get a few correct answers that will raise my practice score up .. which decreases the accuracy of my practice score and gives me false feelings that I am doing well .. since in actuality I just got lucky with my guesses this time.. in the real test I might not !!

 

[JJMrK]

Do what you would do on the actual MCAT.

 

[MD2BEEE]

Do what you would do on the actual MCAT.

x2

Pick a lucky letter and stick with it. A 25% chance is a 25% chance... practice MCAT or real MCAT. Sure you might get lucky once, even twice, but over enough tests it will all average out.

 

[junkct]

If anything, a confidence boost is you need throughout the MCAT ordeal, even if it is a false boost.

 

[vickpick]

ummm.. u can keep them unanswered if u study only the ones u got wrong... BTW, u shouldn't be running out of time. If you are, u're taking more time on the first ones so u'll get more of those correct than the real test - unless u plan to go at ur own pace even on the real one. Go at a pace which will let u finish the whole test, if u get stuck on a question, dont go out ur way to answer it (guess on it).. most questions can be correctly answered by good test takers provided they have enough time- which they don't.

 

[Protactinium]

Use the mark function to label difficult questions. Refer to the marked questions when done.

 

[0Complications]

That is ridiculous. If you were taking the real MCAT you would definitely guess, so why wouldn't you guess on a practice?

Your sister is only saying that because the DAT is so easy that you could pretty much guess all the right answers anyway...


But on a serious note, guess. You'll know during your review which ones you guessed on and which you didn't. It's not like guessing on the last few questions is going to push you up to a 45 and if you're getting good enough scores that each question is worth 1 scaled point, then you're probably finishing on time anyway.

 

[Fifty 3rds]

Just make sure to mark the ones you are guessing. If you are hoping to address any deficiencies in your studying, you absolutely must know what you do and do not know. Good luck.

 

[n618ft]

Your sister's going to dental school instead of MD/DO for a reason 🙂

 

[Longshanks]

I like to use a sports analogy for the mcat:

practice the same way how you will play the game

 

[junkct]

Your sister's going to dental school instead of MD/DO for a reason 🙂

that's just messed up haha