Multiple-Choice Strategy: What to Do When You Are Not Sure
A multiple-choice paper tests your knowledge, and it also tests how well you handle four options under time pressure. The second is a separate skill, and it is learnable.
This guide covers a practical multiple-choice strategy for when you are not sure of the answer — in the JAMB UTME, WAEC and NECO objectives, and Post-UTME screening tests. None of it replaces knowing the material, but all of it protects the marks you have earned.
Answer before you look
Where you can, work out the answer before reading the options. Options are designed with plausible distractors, and reading them first invites you to recognise something familiar rather than to reason.
Arriving with your own answer makes you far harder to mislead.
Take a simple calculation question. If you solve it first and get a value, you are looking for that value. If you read the options first, you may spot one that "looks right" because it uses the same numbers from the question, which is exactly how a distractor is built.
How do you answer multiple-choice questions when you are not sure?
When you are not sure, your job changes from finding the right answer to removing wrong ones. The steps below turn a blind guess into an informed one.
Eliminate, and eliminate on paper
Two options can usually be ruled out quickly. Removing them takes a one-in-four guess to one-in-two, which over a whole paper is a meaningful number of marks.
Mark eliminations rather than holding them in your head, so returning to a flagged question does not mean starting again. In a paper exam, cross them out on the question paper. In a CBT, jot the question number and the ruled-out letters on your rough sheet.
Look for what makes an option wrong
Distractors tend to fail in predictable ways. Watch for options that are true statements but do not answer the question asked, options with absolute words like always or never where the topic has exceptions, and options with the wrong unit or a sign error.
Naming why an option is wrong is more reliable than a vague sense that another one is right.
Read the question completely
Words like not, except and least reverse the whole question, and they are missed constantly under time pressure. A question containing one is worth a deliberate second look.
In Use of English comprehension, check the passage rather than your general knowledge. The answer must come from the text, even when another option sounds sensible.
Never leave a blank where there is no penalty
If wrong answers are not penalised, an unanswered question is a guaranteed zero and a guess is not. Before you finish, sweep for blanks and fill every one.
Always read the instructions for your specific paper to confirm how it is marked. If a paper does penalise wrong answers, guess only where you have eliminated at least one option.
Should you change your answer in a multiple-choice exam?
Changing answers on a vague feeling of unease loses more marks than it gains. Change one only when you can name what you now see — a misread word, a condition you missed, a unit you overlooked.
A concrete reason is grounds to change. Discomfort is not.
Set a ceiling per question
Decide before the exam how long a single question may have, and enforce it. Flag and move.
The cost of a stubborn question is never just that question — it is the easier ones further down that you never reach, which is the most common way strong candidates underperform.
A two-pass approach works well. On the first pass, answer everything you can do quickly and flag the rest. On the second pass, return to the flagged ones with the time you have saved. Our JAMB CBT tips explain how to do this on the computer screen.
Common multiple-choice mistakes
- Looking for patterns in the answers. Believing "it cannot be C again" is superstition. Each question stands alone.
- Picking the longest or most detailed option. Sometimes it is right, often it is not. Reason, do not guess by length.
- Spending the saved time rechecking easy questions. Use it on the flagged ones, where it can actually change a mark.
- Practising without a clock. Strategy only becomes automatic under the same pressure you will face.
How to practise this strategy
- Take a timed past paper, answering before looking at the options wherever possible.
- Mark eliminations visibly on every question you are unsure about.
- Flag anything that runs past your time ceiling and move on.
- After marking, note which guesses were right and which eliminations were wrong.
- Review the working for every miss, as explained in how to use past questions properly.
Repeat this in each mock exam until it happens without thinking.
Frequently asked questions
Is there negative marking in JAMB?
Check the official instructions for the current exam, as rules can change. Where there is no penalty, answer every question.
What is the best way to guess in JAMB when I do not know the answer?
Eliminate every option you can prove wrong, then choose from what remains. An informed guess between two is far better than a blind one among four.
How long should I spend on one question in the UTME?
Set your own ceiling from your practice papers, based on the total time and number of questions. When you hit it, flag and move on.
A good multiple-choice strategy is built in practice, not in the hall. Sharpen yours with timed JAMB, WAEC and NECO past questions on EasyPoint, marked instantly with the working shown.
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