Tip #3: The Art of deduction from the bottom up, USING screens, 3-second rules and confirmation strategies

 Often students will immediately try to track the 'right answer' immediately but this poses problems. But deduction of the easiest to the hardest options is essential.

1. Eliminate one blank at a time. Start with a first screen. Look for the ones that do not make sense, are irrelevant or are options that apply to something too specific . This de-clutters the remaining options
2. Give yourself 3 seconds to decide. Usually irrelevant, easily contradicted or too specific options can be taken off within this time. If not, note it as a 'maybe' and just keep it for a later screen.
3. For the remaining ones that cannot be easily eliminated, either look back at the passage for clues or try to find flaws with them. Of course evidence to support an answer is important but it is often more effective to try and disprove an option than prove it. 
4. Guess the blank before looking at the choices. If a word choice, use your own synonym before choosing  the ones given. Figure out what sort of word(s) should fill the blank(s) before looking at the choices; then look for a choice that is similar to the one(s) you thought of.

Try these processes and then get steadily faster with them. They may slow you down at first but you will get faster over time.