Write it Down – Habit
We hear a lot of reasons for why students don’t like to write down their intermediate steps on standardized tests. Sure, it may not be necessary to show your work in the same detail as when you’re graded on that work, but you should think twice before leaving your test booklet blank. Our most commonly-heard excuse is:
Habit. It’s just what I’ve always done.
Now, sometimes this is just another way of saying, I’ve never been allowed to do it. Students taking statewide standardized tests aren’t always allowed to write in their test booklets. That’s because some schools re-use their test booklets from year to year, and erasing is time-consuming and can be damaging to the paper. (Whether or not we think that’s a good policy is a subject for another post.) So when students go from using separate scratch paper to having no separate scratch paper at all, they often just think they’re not supposed to write anything down.
If this sounds familiar to you, know that the ACT, AP, ISEE, SAT, and SSAT exams all expect that you’ll be using your test booklet as scratch paper. Part of your test fee is paying for that test booklet, which will be thrown away after you take the test. So, write away!
But for those students who are just in the habit of doing all their work in their head, consider the adage: “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always gotten.”
If you’re used to not showing your work, and you’re also used to getting straight A’s and perfect scores on your practice tests, then so be it — you’re doing fine, and you don’t need any help.
For the rest of us who could stand to improve our scores (and ourselves), it’s always worth being open to new ideas. Habits are hard to break, but sometimes it’s worth the effort. So, give it a try: read with a pencil, and write equations and calculations down in your practice books. Don’t be afraid to get those books dirty, and see if it doesn’t improve your score.
It may be true that you don’t have to show your work on a standardized test, but that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t.