Cheat codes / Every part
The five-second check
Before I lock any answer, I spend five seconds to check four things, and I save marks I already earned.
How I think about it
The code in steps
- 1Re-read only the last sentence of the question.
- 2Check the unit of your answer against the unit asked.
- 3Check the sign with one easy value.
- 4Find your answer in the options as written and read that option in full.
- 5Lock it and move on.
Learn it
1. What it is
The five-second check is a short habit that you do after you have chosen an answer and before you press the next button. You check four things in order.
1. What was asked? Look at the last sentence once more. Is my answer the thing it asks for?
2. Units. Is my number in minutes, meters, dollars or hours as the question wants?
3. The sign. Is it plus or minus, bigger or smaller, greater than or less than? Did I flip the inequality when I divided by a negative?
4. Is my answer in the options, as written? If I got 0.5 and the options say 1/2, fine. If I got 6 and no option says 6, something is wrong.
2. Why these four
These are the four places where good students lose marks they have already earned. The student did the hard maths, and then answered the wrong question, forgot to change the unit, lost a minus sign or picked an option that looks the same as the answer but is not.
In Reading and Writing the check is the same idea: the last sentence tells you what to look for (the main idea, a word that means the same, the best transition), and a quick re-read stops you from picking an option that answers a different question.
3. The steps
1. Re-read the last sentence of the question. Not the whole question, only the last sentence.
2. Look at the units in the question and in your answer.
3. Test the sign with one easy value (for example, put a number into the inequality).
4. Put your finger on the option you chose and read it once, in full.
5. Lock it.
4. A tiny drill
Question: A runner runs 5 kilometers at 12 kilometers per hour. How many minutes? You got 5 / 12 = 0.4167. Check 1: the question asks for minutes. Check 2: 0.4167 is in hours. Convert: 0.4167 x 60 = 25. The answer is 25 minutes. The check saved the question.
Do this drill with 3 questions today and time yourself. It should take less than 5 seconds.
5. How to know when to use it
Always, but only after you have an answer. Do not use the check as an excuse to start the whole problem again. It is a quick last look. If something looks wrong, fix it. If not, move on.
Why it works
Many of the wrong options on the SAT are placed there on purpose, to catch students who answered in the wrong unit, with the wrong sign or for the wrong target. Because the score depends only on the number of correct answers and a wrong answer is not penalised, every mark you protect is a mark gained. Each Math question gives you about 95 seconds and each Reading and Writing question about 71 seconds, so a five-second check is a small part of the time. This applies to every question, because every question has a last sentence, a type of answer and four options.
Watch out: Do not let the check turn into a full second solution. If you cannot find the problem in five seconds, trust your first work and move on, or mark it for review and return. Also the check can only find mistakes in the final step. It does not repair a wrong plan.
See it work on real questions
Try each question your usual way first. Then open the box to see the code at work.
Ratios, rates and units · question 6
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Right triangles and trigonometry · question 7
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Linear inequalities · question 3
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Unit conversion · question 3
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Words in Context · question 4
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Command of Evidence · question 8
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Do not just believe me. Test it.
For one week, do the five-second check on every question you do in this app. Keep a tally: each time the check made you change your answer, write one mark. After 40 questions, count the marks. If it saved you a few questions, you have your proof. If it saved you nothing, you have a good solid way to know you already check well.