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"I Don't Remember That" Isn't Poison

If you rely on your memory to make eliminations, you'll have to memorize the passage.

Memorizing is time intensive and unreliable.

  • BIG questions are likely to phrase the main idea in weird ways with new words.
  • MEDIUM questions are allowed to include new information.
  • And on SMALL questions you aren't trying to eliminate, so you should defer on "I don't remember that" answers.

If you notice yourself relying on "I don't remember that," you might need to...

  1. Read every word in the answer to find the poison;
  2. Read the answers more holistically, to understand the core idea instead of matching words;
  3. Read the text more holistically, to see the bigger picture instead of memorizing details; and/or
  4. Deliberately pause between the question and the answers to remind yourself of the author's point, to make predictions a habit.

If you do eliminate based on "I don't remember that" make sure to also ask yourself: "And would I have remembered it?"