Students often get into trouble when they begin to spot patterns in their SAT answer choices (e.g. A-A-A-D-D-D) and allow those patterns to impact their subsequent answers. Reacting to patterns on the SAT is pure folly.
Here’s a little math problem you would do well remembering when going into the SAT test. Assume you are flipping a coin where the odds of coming up heads is 1 out of 2 and the odds of coming up tails is 1 out of 2. You flip the coin and, remarkably, it comes up heads 5 times in a row. If you were placing a small wager on the sixth toss, would you assume the odds of coming up heads is 1 out of 64 (i.e., 1/2 to the sixth power) or the same 50% as the first toss? The obvious answer is 50%, but it sure feels like it should be 1 out of 64. If you were betting at the outset of the coin toss, the odds of getting six heads in a row would be 1 out of 64, but before each toss it’s 1 out of 2. The same logic applies to SAT answer choices. Even though you’ve answered “E” 5 times in a row, don’t assume “E” is a remote answer choice on the next question. Rather, it holds the same 1 out 5 chance as every multiple choice question on the test.
