Tip of the Day: Use the Five-Finger Method of Keeping Track of Answer Choices
One thing that can slow down a test-taker taking the GMAT is losing track of which choices she or he has eliminated when answering a multiple choice question. Of course, if we forget whether we’ve eliminated a choice, then we’ll unnecessarily use up time reviewing that choice to see what we had decided.
So, one approach GMAT test-takers use to keep track of which choices they’ve eliminated is to use the notepad, but there’s an even better approach, the five-finger method, and here’s how it works.
You simply hold one of your hands near the screen on which the GMAT appears and consider each of your five fingers on that hand representative of one of the answer choices to the question you’re working on. Your thumb represents choice (A), and each of your other four fingers represents one of the choices (B) through (E). So, when answering a Verbal question, you start off with all five fingers extended, and as you eliminate each choice, you fold in the finger that represents that choice. If you change your mind and decide that a choice is a contender after all, you simply unfold that finger that represents that choice.
Since you don’t have to look away from the screen or write anything down to use the five-finger method of keeping track of answer choices, using that method is a great way to work efficiently and complete the GMAT Verbal section on time.
