Guessing, flagging, and the review screen

There is no penalty for a wrong answer. A blank and a wrong answer score identically, so a blank is a guess you declined to take.

#The rules that follow

Never leave anything blank. Not at the end of a module when you're out of time, not on a question you can't parse. With four choices, a blind guess is 25%; a guess after eliminating one is 33%. Across a test that's real points.

Answer before you flag. Bluebook's flag is a bookmark, not a placeholder. Flagging without answering means that if time runs out, you get nothing for it. Put in your best guess, then flag.

In the last 60 seconds, sweep. Open the review screen, find anything unanswered, fill it. Same letter for all of them is fine — you're buying lottery tickets, not solving.

#Eliminating properly

On Reading and Writing, most wrong answers are wrong for a nameable reason, and naming it is faster than re-reading:

• Too broad — true of the topic, but not of this text.
• Half right — the first clause matches, the second doesn't. This is the most common trap on the whole section, and it works because you stop reading once the beginning matches.
• Right idea, wrong text — a real claim from the passage, but not the one the question asked about.
• Not supported — plausible, reasonable, and not actually stated.

If two answers survive, the difference between them is almost always one word. Find that word.

#The review screen

At any point in a module you can open a grid showing every question, which you've answered, and which you've flagged. Use it twice: once at your mid-module checkpoint, and once with two minutes left. Don't browse it constantly — it's an escape hatch, not a workspace.

#One thing you cannot do

You cannot return to Module 1 after it ends. When the module closes, it closes. That's why the "spend leftover time re-checking Module 1" advice in Two modules, one gate is not optional — those minutes are genuinely use-it-or-lose-it.