Test Taking Tips: Use This Logic Trick to Narrow Down Your Answer Choices

   We've all taken standardized tests before where we have encountered questions we just may not be able to answer. Are there any tips to narrow down your answer choices so that you may be able to take an educated guess on two possibilities instead of five? You may be able to use the following trick. The following question and answers demonstrate this.

   Suppose the question you encounter is "Which of the following is true about euglena?"

(a) They are incapable of generating ATP due to modifications of their mitochondrial membranes early in their life cycle
(b) They are almost always multicellular with few exceptions
(c) They are considered protists
(d) They are considered plants
(e) They are exclusively heterotrophic


   At first glance, you have no idea how to solve this problem, but then you recall your studies of taxonomy. You remember with 100% certainty they are not considered animals nor fungi and they are not prokaryotic. Based on taxonomic classifications, then, they must be either plants or protists; these are the only possibilities. Therefore, you can immediately narrow down the choices to (c) or (d), because logic dictates "If A or B, and not A, then B". In other words, it must be the case that euglena are either plants or protists, and since you know this to be true, none of the other answer choices can be correct.


(a) They are incapable of generating ATP due to modifications of their mitochondrial membranes early in their life cycle
(b) They are almost always multicellular with few exceptions
(c) They are considered protists
(d) They are considered plants
(e) They are exclusively heterotrophic

   Whereas previously you had effectively a 1 in 5 chance of answering the question, you now have a 1 in 2 chance of answering the question! The correct answer, by the way, is (c).

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