When in doubt, should I choose A?

[hsingh2088]

I am working the SC section and have noticed that many answer choices are A. If A is not eliminated off the bat, and I am stuck with a second choice, is it better for my odds to just choose A?

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Hi hsingh2088,

The GMAT tends to evenly distribute the answer choices throughout each section during the exam. As such, answer A will be correct about 20% of the time (since there are 5 answer choices). If you were to see approximately 15 SCs on Test Day, it stands to reason that about 3 of them would be fine the way that they're written. This doesn't necessarily mean that you have "better odds" by picking A, but you do have to be comfortable with the idea that there might not be any errors in the original sentence.

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

[Chanakya1]

I am working the SC section and have noticed that many answer choices are A. If A is not eliminated off the bat, and I am stuck with a second choice, is it better for my odds to just choose A?

Well had your question been whether you should go with A if you are blindly guessing on a SC question, my answer would have been 'No' because the odds of it being correct would be the same as those of the other four options, as pointed in the above post.

However the way I understand your question is what to do in case you are 'unable to eliminate' A. In that case my advice will be to go with A as a lot of people (and this includes me as well) immediately tend to assume that A will not be the answer and not even consider it. I guess the best way to figure this out would be to try it out on a few questions. If you get more right then wrong then by all means stick to this strategy.

Cheers!