1. Ignore conventional wisdom.

　　抛弃传统思维。

　　You've probably been given test-taking advice along the lines of "always guess the middle answer if you don't know" or "avoid any answer that uses the words 'never,' 'always,' 'all,' or 'none'" at some point in your life. However, according to Poundstone, this conventional wisdom doesn't hold up against statistics. In fact, he found that the answers "none of the above" or "all of the above" were correct 52% of the time. Choosing one of these answers gives you a 90% improvement over random guessing, he says.

　　可能曾经有人建议你在应试时沿用“如果不知道，就猜中间的答案”或“避免使用 ‘从不’，‘总是’，‘全部’或者‘没有’等用词”。但是，根据庞德斯通(Poundstone)所说，这一传统智慧不能支撑统计数据。事实上，他发现“以上都不是”或“上述所有”的回答52%的几率是正确的。他说选择这些回答中的一个会比随意猜测的正确率提高90%。

　　2. Look at the surrounding answers.

　　看看周围的答案。

　　Poundstone found correct answer choices hardly repeated consecutively, so looking at the answers of the questions you do know will help you figure out the ones you're stuck on. For example, if you're stuck on question No. 2, but know that the answer to No. 1 is A and the answer to No. 3 is D, those choices can probably be eliminated for No. 2. Of course, "knowledge trumps outguessing," Poundstone reminds us. Cross out answers you know are wrong based on facts first.

　　庞德斯通发现正确答案的选项几乎不会连续性地重复，所以看那些你肯定明白的问题的答案将会帮助你解决困住你的问题。例如，如果你被困在问题2，但知道问题1的答案是A以及问题3的答案是D，这些选择也许可以在回答问题2时被排除。当然，“知识胜过猜测”，庞德斯通提醒道。首先要基于事实划掉你已知错误的选项。

　　3. Choose the longest answer.

　　选择最长的答案。

　　Poundstone also noticed that the longest answer on multiple-choice tests was usually correct. "Test makers have to make sure that right answers are indisputably right," he says. "Often this demands some qualifying language. They may not try so hard with wrong answers." If one choice is noticeably longer than its counterparts, he says it's likely the correct answer.

　　庞德斯通还注意到，在多项选择题测试中最长的选项通常是正确的。“出题者必须确保正确的答案是准确无误的，”他说，“这通常需要一些专业语言。他们可能不会在错误的答案上花力气。”如果其中一个选项明显长于其它选项，他说这可能是正确答案。

　　4. Eliminate the outliers.

　　排除选项。

　　Some exams, like the SATs, are randomized using computers, negating any patterns usually found in the order of the answers. However, no matter their order, answer choices that are incongruent with the rest are usually wrong, according to Poundstone. He gives the following sample answers from an SAT practice test, without including the question:

　　像SAT这样的一些考试，都是随机使用电脑，不会出现任何经常出现的答案顺序。但是，据庞德斯通所说，不管它们的顺序是怎么样的，与其余选项不一致的那个选项通常是错的。他给出某次SAT练习测试中的示例答案如下，不包括题目：

　　A. haphazard…radical

　　B. inherent…controversial

　　C. improvised…startling

　　D. methodical…revolutionary

　　E. derivative…gradual

　　Because the meaning of "gradual" stands out from the other words in the right column, choice E can be eliminated. Poundstone then points out that "haphazard" and "improvised" have almost identical meanings. Because these choices are so close in meaning, A and C can also be eliminated, allowing you to narrow down over half the answers without even reading the question.

　　因为在右栏中“gradual”的含义与其他选项不一致，所以选项E可以被排除。庞德斯通随后指出，"haphazard" 和"improvised"有着几乎相同的含义。由于两个选项意思接近，A和C也可以被排除，这使你甚至在没有阅读问题的情况下就能锁定超过一半的答案。

　　"It's hard to see how one could be unambiguously correct and the other unambiguously wrong," he says. For the record, the correct answer is D.“

　　很难看出哪个选项是明显正确和明显错误的，”他还说。特此说明，正确答案是D。

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（责任编辑：何莹莹）