On Sat, 4 Nov 2000, Robin Pearce wrote:
>
> Check the rules of the test. If I recall (I took it 6 or so years ago;
> rules may have changed), 1/4 of a point is deducted for a wrong answer.
> Hence it doesn't make sense to guess unless two of the four alternatives
> can be confidently discounted.
Right rule, wrong deduction.
For every five questions, suppose someone skips them all. Then
his/her score = 0 out of 5
Or suppose they guess on every one. Since there are five
alternatives on each question, on average the guessing student
will get 1 right. So score = 1 right, 4 wrong. But the 4 wrong
choices will be subect to a correction of 4 x 1/4 = 1 mark
deducted. Result: score = 0
So pure guessing or omitting the question leads to the same
result. But since it would be rare for someone to be absolutely
clueless, even what they feel is a pure guess might contain a
smidgen of knowledge. So I'd say: always guess, even if you can't
eliminate even a single choice. Can't hurt, might help.
And that was Kalat's conclusion as well. In fact, the
transmission was from Kalat-----> Black
-Stephen
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Stephen Black, Ph.D. tel: (819) 822-9600 ext 2470
Department of Psychology fax: (819) 822-9661
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Canada Department web page at http://www.ubishops.ca/ccc/div/soc/psy
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