The Myth of the Shortcut

What’s the strategy for this test? What are the shortcuts? What’s the easiest way to take this test? How can I go up a million points in the next two weeks?

In a decade of working with students preparing for standardized tests, I have heard all of the questions. I have to admit, though, that I absolutely cringe when I hear the word “shortcut.” Look, I totally understand wanting to reduce and conserve energy for a long test, however, the idea of shortcuts when it comes to these very meticulously crafted tests can be dangerous and can, ironically, lead to wrong answers.

Case in point: process of elimination, the famous strategy for tests since time immemorial. Here’s the catch, though: sometimes old, reliable P.O.E. is actually nothing more than a fancy name for guessing. Consider the sentence completion, the current SAT’s version of a “vocab question,” consisting of a sentence with a blank, and five words to consider for filling the blank. Many students will tell me they got their answer by “doing process of elimination.” Ok, so what’s the problem? This sounds legit: a solid strategy that’s been used for ages, right? The problem is guidelines. Without what I’ll refer to as a “guideline answer,” P.O.E. really doesn’t mean all that much. Without a guideline, aren’t you pretty much guessing, just sort of cherry-picking one of five scary looking words? It’s more eeny-meeny-miny-moe than it is a strategy. Check it out:

The movie could be considered ­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­__________________________ because it depicted Civil War soldiers talking on cellular phones.

1. malevolent
2. anachronistic
3. anomalous
4. cacophonous
5. indelible

There’s my attempt to create a “difficult” level College Board sentence completion. From experience, I can guarantee that there will be a handful of students who will pick an answer to this question with the rock-solid reasoning that “it sounded right.” There are others who will omit the question or get it right (best possible outcomes.) Still others will proudly proclaim, “I did process of elimination.” My first question to those students would be “what was your guideline answer?” Many of them will respond, “well I knew it wasn’t this and I knew it wasn’t that.” Hold on. That’s not what I asked you.

In prepping for these types of questions, I will sometimes insist that students place their hand over the answer choices before they go into P.O.E. mode. This simple act can help to recalibrate how we see the questions and keep us from jumping right into answer choices which, by the way, are the test-maker’s words, 80% of which are incorrect. Control is important on a test like the SAT. I think it’s fair to say that a great many students don’t feel in control when they take this test. Test-makers are masters of finding words that “sound” right or “look” right. I’m telling you, there’s got to be a psychologist or two, and more than a few linguists, on that old College Board. So what’s the guideline word or phrase for the above sentence? Using context, it’s probably something along the lines of “in the wrong time frame.” Ok, now that you’ve taken control of this question and put a guideline into the sentence, you can happily go to that granddaddy of strategies, P.O.E.

And…look at this: if you’re even vaguely familiar with prefixes and roots, your P.O.E. might have even more logic behind it. Check out that Greek root “chron” in choice B. You don’t need to be Zeus to infer that it probably has to do with time or order. And that “an” prefix…probably negative. You can most likely rule out a word that starts with “mal.” Again, you don’t have to be fluent in Spanish to make the assumption that you’ve got a negative word there. Without belaboring the point, I’ll just add that you can probably make a few similar assumptions about the other answer choices. So, because you controlled this question, created a guideline and performed successful, non-guessing P.O.E., you’ve got yourself another point on the test.

Now, finally, here’s the point of this ramble: standardized tests can easily control you, making ridiculous answer choices seem or feel or look or sound correct. The use of your five senses in these cases, is, unfortunately, not grounded in logic and the SAT, as little as they’d like to admit it, is a reasoning test. “Control” can stir up bad connotations: control freak, out of control, but on a standardized test, control is an essential strategy. It’s not a shortcut, it’s not a loophole, and it’s not a quick fix. It’s simply a way to slow things down and be sure you are putting yourself in the best possible position to get the question right.

The next time you find yourself thinking “shortcut” while prepping for a standardized test, take a moment and a deep breath and remind yourself that you’ve been using logic your entire life. Now, if you’re anything like me, it may have sometimes been to your detriment, but, overall, you’ve got the ability to exert your reasoning over the question and gain some control over a test that can often make you feel like you’ve fallen into a spiraling vortex of chaos. Put your hand over their answers, create your guideline, be logical, and be proud to say that you got it right and you didn’t even need a “shortcut.”

Written by Phil Lane