Write it Down – Pride
Students often think that just because nobody will be checking their work on a standardized test, that means they won’t be punished for leaving the test booklet free of scratch work. To that end, we’re continuing our series on the most common reasons that students fail to “show their work” on standardized test day:
Pride. I should be able to go without.
We see this a lot from students who are taking a test that they expect to get a high score on, and it’s also a favorite excuse from people who like to get to an answer fast.
Unfortunately, standardized tests don’t care about your ego or your impatience. You don’t get bonus points for turning in a blank test booklet, or for turning it in early. If you missed a negative sign, no one but you is going to know that you made a simple, careless error. Careless errors get the same score as errors of knowledge or understanding.
In fact, no one but you is going to see your test booklet. No one will be standing over your shoulder, clicking their tongue and saying, “you really should be able to do that without a calculator,” or “can’t you figure that out in your head?” And the person in the room who is watching over you with a stopwatch isn’t going to be impressed that you finished early. But when the admissions panel is reviewing your test, seeing that you scored several percentiles lower than your potential seems to indicate you should have, they will be concerned that it’s a matter of ability rather than pride.
If this is your reason for keeping your pencil off the page, you’re only competing against — and possibly hurting — yourself.