If you have ever worked with me in coaching for your exam, then you know I sound like a broken record when it comes to rationales. I can’t emphasize the importance of them enough. I always strongly encourage the customers I work with to read the rationale for each and every question. Yes, even the ones you got correct and even the ones you knew without a doubt!
Why do I love rationales so much, you may ask? Because they offer so many teaching moments with each and every question. In this post, I will name a few…
We all know that rationales offer us an explanation for the answer to the question. For instance, why option B was correct, but also why options A, C, and D were incorrect. Not only are we learning additional content but we are getting in the mindset of the exam creator. Learning this explanation about one question can often be applied to other questions (including ones that you might see on the real exam!)
Reading rationales also offer us teaching moments on what we may or may not be doing wrong. There are so many times that reading the rationale gives me a lightbulb moment about my own test taking abilities, such as
“Oh, I read that too fast!”
“I didn’t read all 4 options thoroughly!”
“I really was overthinking that question!”
“I made an assumption there.”
“Oh, I overlooked that keyword.”
“Okay, that makes sense now!”
So as you can see, I believe that it is so important that we read and study rationales with our practice questions! What have you seen as a benefit to studying rationales? Share below in the comments!