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Small-Scale Question Sunday for December 25, 2022

Merry Christmas, everyone!

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Is there such a thing as taking tests fast or slow, separate from actual score? Throughout my academic career I finished every test I ever took freakishly fast, like everyone else is working and I'm sitting there for half an hour. This did not correlate with how in or others did on the test, if I tried to go back and change answers or edit I was as likely to score lower as higher. Friends who scored the same as me, consistently, took more time to finish.

Normally test taking speed correlates with intelligence, but it always felt like something else there.

I would be very interested in this as well. The one thing I’ve heard is that you should be careful about changing MCQ answers of questions you’re not entirely sure about (and that isn’t down to simply working it out with the information given, like in a mathematics test), because there’s often some association below the level of conscious thought that’s pushing you to the initial answer.

It tended to be the MCQs that I finished in half the time most other people did; my pen grip is poor, so essay-questions tended to be agony as my hand starts to cramp half an hour to one hour in. I also tend to find more things to write when I get more time, is that not the same for you?

Edit:a word

The one thing I’ve heard is that you should be careful about changing MCQ answers of questions you’re not entirely sure about (and that isn’t down to simply working it out with the information given, like in a knowledge test), because there’s often some association below the level of conscious thought that’s pushing you to the initial answer.

I've argued this so many times with my wife about aesthetic choices. When we pick paint colors for the house, I stare at the rack at home depot until I pick a color, then we stick with it. I also forbid changing outfits after one has gotten dressed, they always get worse not better. There's something below the surface that will make the perfect choice obvious! You make one decision and then stick with it and never think about it again. Given, that's also how I got married to start with.

But it seems like that wouldn't apply as much to the LSAT.