Never let your answer sheet affect your answer choices

Students often ask whether they should go back and change previous answers if the same answer choice  letter appears multiple times in a row.

The simple answer is  NO.   Here’s why.

Take a look at this answer sheet from Section 5 (Writing) of the 2006 Official SAT Practice Test, which was also the actual October 2005 SAT):

Six straight D’s, but only one of these answers is incorrect.

Here are the correct answers:

See that? Five out of the six ‘D’ answer choices is correct. What’s more, D is also the correct answer on question 31 (not shown).

The SAT often repeats the same answer choice multiple times in a row (basically because the test makers know that students like to try to ‘game’ their answer sheets this way), so you are only asking for trouble by changing an answer because you think it can’t be the same letter yet again.

Because the SAT often repeats the same answer choice multiple times, never try to game your answers based on how they appear on your answer sheet. Even if you get the same answer five or six times in a row, do NOT change your answer choices to try to balance out your answer sheet. It could be that you have only missed one question out of the six, and hunting for that one incorrect answer wastes valuable time you should be using to answer the rest of the questions.

A better strategy is to just keep working through the rest of the section, while circling in your test booklet (never on your answer sheet!) the numbers of any questions you are not sure of. Then, if you have time left over after you get through the whole section once, go back and review those circled questions again.

Remember:

If you decide to change an answer choice, always be sure you have a reason other than simply how it appears on your answer sheet.

From my SAT training guide: SAT Unlocked.