Losing a Battle to Help Win the War

There may be times when you encounter a problem that you feel you can solve. However, because you either make a small calculation mistake or are just a little out of practice with this type of question, you’re having a hard time getting the answer and the time is getting away from you. In these cases, it’s tempting to continue investing time and energy into the problem.

However, at some point you may have to make an educated guess and move on, because regardless of whether you can answer the question correctly, you can’t afford to spend five minutes doing so. At that point, it wouldn’t matter that you got the question correct, because of the likelihood that you’d end up running out of time and having to guess on later questions.

This is not to say that if you are truly close to an answer, you should still guess at some arbitrary point in time. If you are close to an answer, it could very well make sense to finish answering the question even if you are behind the clock. The point is that if you are not clearly close to an answer, at some point you may have to make the call to guess and move on.

You must be disciplined. You must be willing to lose a battle to maximize your chances of winning the war. If you’re caught in a question that you’re struggling to answer and time is getting away from you, even if every bone in your body is telling you that you can answer the question, make an educated guess and move on.

Warmest regards,

Scott Woodbury-Stewart
Founder & CEO, Target Test Prep