Taking tests is one place where I’ve noticed focus on rationality can give you a boost. I had two classes with a very similar format—each semester had two exams and a final. Each exam had several multi-part questions that got progressively more difficult. The average score was expected to be about 50%, and not everyone was expected to finish any of the exams. Grade in the class was based on ranking—the person with the highest cumulative score got an A, e.g.
A classmate and I realized that we could use the bias other students had for wanting to focus on the easy points to our advantage. That is, the later questions were harder, but they gave much more bang for the buck. It was kind of painful to leave questions you knew you could answer easily blank (which is where overcoming the bias comes in), but it was most certainly worth it when we got the top ranks.
Taking tests is one place where I’ve noticed focus on rationality can give you a boost. I had two classes with a very similar format—each semester had two exams and a final. Each exam had several multi-part questions that got progressively more difficult. The average score was expected to be about 50%, and not everyone was expected to finish any of the exams. Grade in the class was based on ranking—the person with the highest cumulative score got an A, e.g.
A classmate and I realized that we could use the bias other students had for wanting to focus on the easy points to our advantage. That is, the later questions were harder, but they gave much more bang for the buck. It was kind of painful to leave questions you knew you could answer easily blank (which is where overcoming the bias comes in), but it was most certainly worth it when we got the top ranks.