Imagine this… you are taking the state exam.  On one question, you select B.  You mark it to review later.  When you finish the test, you have eight questions marked for review.  You go back to look at the questions you marked.  As you read this particular question again, you now think the answer is C.  Should you keep your original answer or switch to a new answer?

The common advice is to stick to your first answer.  “Go with your gut”, they say.  “Trust your first instinct.”  That advice is generally wrong.

Bad Advice Is Based On Feelings Rather Than Facts

We tend to stick to the first answer because there is a feeling of regret we experience when changing the answer from correct to incorrect.  That feeling is unbearable.  I’ve seen it in class.  A student will answer a question right, then change it to wrong, and it kills them.  When they change from wrong to right, they pat themselves on the back, but don’t remember it two minutes later.

According to Why We Make Mistakes by Joseph T. Hallinan, three out of four college students believe they should stick with their first answer.  Most college professors believe it as well.  I have heard countless real estate instructors say to “Trust your initial hunch.  Don’t change your answer.”  But here’s the problem: that is terrible advice.

More Than 30 Scientific Studies That Contradict What You Probably Believe

We have more than 70 years of research on answer changing.  Most people who change their answers on the test improve their scores.  In 33 studies about this, not a single study showed that test-takers were hurt by changing their answers.  Let me say that again: Not a single study should that test-takers were hurt by changing their answers.

Many students – and even worse,  teachers – have this mistaken belief that they should not change their answer, but there is no evidence to support that.  Where does this erroneous belief come from?  If we are going to err, we would rather err by failing to do something than by doing something.

In the other words, the pain of changing from right to wrong is more painful than leaving the wrong answer wrong.

The other reason people believe they should not change their answer is based on a memory bias.  Justin Kruger, of New York University, found that students were more likely to get the problem wrong if they stuck with their first answer.  When asked how often they changed from right to wrong, they overestimated.  When asked how often they changed from wrong to right, they underestimated.  So we remember sticking with the first answer as being a better strategy than it actually was.

Consider Why You Are Changing Your Answer

Why did you switch?  Did you find something in a later question that gave you a clue to the earlier question?  Or maybe you realized you misread the question initially?  That’s a good reason to change.

But if it’s an arbitrary guess to another arbitrary guess, I’m not sure if that’s a good reason to switch.  Those are the ones where you are likely answering from wrong to wrong.  Changing your answer is most beneficial when you have a reason why the original answer might be wrong.  But the fact that you chose it first, should not be a factor.  That is the First Answer Fallacy.

First Answer Fallacy

In Adam Grant’s Think Again, he writes about a study of more than 1,500 exams, only 25% of the changes were from right to wrong, while 51% were from wrong to right.  The remaining 23% were from wrong to wrong.  So changes from wrong to right outnumbered changes from right to wrong two-to-one.

If you answered B, but are now considering changing it to C, the research shows you should change it to C.

There Isn’t One Rule You Can Follow

Like most things, there is not one single rule that works every time.  Sometimes you should change your answer.  Sometimes you should not.  But here is the one rule you can take to the bank:  don’t trust your gut.  Trust your brain.

If your brain tells you that C is probably right, change it to C – even if your gut tells you it’s B.  This is a test of knowledge, not of digestion.

Please note that Karen Climer has no affiliation with Climer School of Real Estate.  Her father, Ron Climer, sold Climer School of Real Estate in 2014.  It has since been involved in several mergers and acquisitions and is owned by a large investment company.  Karen owns Demetree School of Real Estate in Orlando, Florida.