[jedberg]

When I was 11 I took a live assessment to get into the gifted program at school. I thought I didn't do very well because about 20% of the questions I answered "I don't know".

At the end the assessor told me that I passed specifically because I said "I don't know". They purposely put questions on the test they didn't expect you to answer to see what you do when faced with an unanswerable question.

I've used that in my own life since -- I much prefer working with (and have a much more positive view of) people who are willing to say "I don't know".

[BeFlatXIII]

Doesn't the SAT work similarly? They penalize wrong answers to discourage guessing. Either be confident in your answer or leave the question blank.

[jedberg]

I assume so, at least it worked that way when I took it 30 years ago.