The Virtues of Decision-Making

When things move quickly, it can be difficult to make decisions. During tests, we often feel we are being rushed, forced to just pick something without really thinking it through. For some of us, it’s a comfort to be able to spend five minutes on the question or circle a question on a test and come back to it later. But really, what are we waiting for? What’s going to change in the three minutes between circling the question and going back to answer it? If I don’t know how to use a semicolon or solve for x, how am I going to magically figure it out just by waiting?

I asked a high-scoring student what advice she would offer someone taking the ACT and struggling with timing. Her response was simply: “move.” She didn’t mean plow through it without giving thought to the answers you’re bubbling, but, rather, to not get stuck on any one question. On a test like the ACT, the one point you might earn from one question is not worth not being able to finish the section. It’s simply too much risk for not enough reward.

I know I’m making this sound easy, though I realize, as with so many strategies, it’s likely a classic case of “easier said than done.” So how do you – indeed, can you – train yourself to be decisive? I believe you can. In my experience, I have found that we should never underestimate the power of positive reinforcement. Instilling and building confidence in a student is absolutely vital in creating a solid decision-maker.

I recently had a session with a young lady preparing to take the ACT for the fourth time. Going into the appointment, I was told she’d been struggling with grammar and had been unable to break the 25 plateau on the ACT English Test. Once we began talking, however, she explained that in practice, she always scored closer to 30; she just didn’t seem to be able to replicate it on the real test. The busybody in me had a lot of questions for her: Do you always trust your original answer? Do you go back and change answers? Do you check over the test before finishing? Do you erase a lot? Do you linger on one question for a long time? Her answer to everything was a resounding “yes.” So, for this obviously capable student, I created the following guidelines:

1. Don’t change initial answers
2. Be decisive: when you’ve completed the question, move to the next one. When you’ve completed the      passage, move to the next one.
3. Don’t leave questions until later
4. If you finish before the time is up, take a break; do not go back and “check over” your answers.
5. At any point during the test, take a short break to regain focus. A deep breath can go a long way.
6. Do not be a perfectionist. If you are unsure, don’t feel bad about it, just pick and answer and keep on moving.

After her initial shock at me essentially telling her to think less on the ACT, my student smiled, as though an enormous weight had been lifted off her shoulders. Needless to say, our session included very little grammar review. We concluded early on that she knew what she need to know. She also needed some confidence and someone to remind her that test day is the same test, only in a different building, and that a simple change of venue doesn’t mean she should all of a sudden start doubting her ability.

As it is in our nature to want to get things right, it can often also be natural for us to overanalyze situations, thinking ourselves out of successful outcomes and into wrong decisions. This “paralysis by analysis” can do strange things to our brains, making wrong answers look right and ridiculous answer choices seem plausible. I’ve always loved the analogy of the Greek navy, which would, upon arriving at a battle site, burn the boat so that no soldiers would be able to change their minds and retreat. Having a “burn the boat” mentality when taking standardized tests can be helpful, particularly for the pathologically indecisive- i.e. most of us. Really, it’s the same lesson as my student’s wonderfully simple suggestion to “move.” After all, more is lost by indecision than by wrong decision, just ask the student who got question six right after five minutes of deliberation, but didn’t have enough time to complete the rest of the section as a result.

Written by Phil Lane