When Second-Guessing Is Actually Smart Changing your answer isn’t always bad. In fact, it’s often the right move—if you have a good reason.
You must have changed an answer again and again on a multiple-choice test only to find out if your choice is right or not. While appearing for the ACT, when each and every mark counts and makes changes, you must know when to trust your gut versus when you need to rethink and reevaluate your answer; doing guesswork abruptly can jeopardize your college admission.
Let’s talk about how to strike the right balance—and stop sabotaging your own success.
The “First Instinct” Myth… or Truth?
This is usually heard: “Always go with your first instinct.” It might be true, but not always – it’s not a blanket rule. Students usually change the wrong answer and swap it with the right one. The key is knowing why you’re changing your answer.
Trust Your Gut When:
- You can recognise the correct answer instantly. If the choice comes to your mind the very first moment, then go with it.
- You’ve practiced a lot, keeping day and night together, and that experience and practice help you recognize the question pattern. In this case, your gut is giving signals by experience.
- You’re running out of time. Do for your Gut instinct except of doing a wild guess.
When Second-Guessing Is Actually Smart
Changing your answer with a logical, good reason is often the right move. In fact, it’s not bad at all.
Change Your Answer If:
- You remember a norm or technique that goes against your first choice.
- You notice a missed detail in the question while reading the first time.
- Your first choice was a wild guess, and you figured out the correct answer through the procedure in the leftover time.
Just don’t let doubt alone drive the decision. If you’re changing an answer simply because it “doesn’t feel right,” and you can’t explain why, pause and find out the correct explanation for the change you are making.
How to Train Your Gut
Confidence is not a free package; it comes from practice and preparation. The more you study ACT strategies, the more you practice questions, and the more you review real test questions, the stronger and accurate your instincts will become.
Try This:
- Take timed practice tests and track how often your first answer was right.
- Review answer changes and write down why you made them, right or wrong.
- Reflect honestly. Are you changing answers because you’re smarter than the question, or just second-guessing yourself?
Quick Decision Guide: Trust or Change?
Here’s a simple flowchart to help in the moment:
Step 1: Do you have a specific reason to change your answer (a rule, realization, or reread question)?
→ YES → Change it.
→ NO → Stick with your first choice.
Step 2: Are you changing because you’re unsure or anxious?
→ YES → Don’t change. Trust your gut.
→ NO → If it’s based on logic, go ahead.
Bottom Line
Your gut is directly proportional to your preparation. If you’ve practiced sufficiently and put in the time, your instincts can be a powerful tool. Trust them—but don’t let them lead you blindly. Knowing why you’re making a choice is crucial.
This is an important question you ask yourself when you’re stuck between two answers.
Am I changing this because I know something I didn’t before, or just because I’m doubting myself?
That one question might save you a handful of points—and possibly your dream score.
How The Princeton Review Can Assist You In Understanding When to Trust Your Gut on the ACT
Second-guessing themselves is the biggest test-day challenge students usually face. So, to know how to make fast, confident, and accurate decisions under pressure is the key to mastering ACT; knowing facts is not, and never has been, enough.
There must be a bunch of questions running through your head – Should I go with the first answer? Should I change it? Should I trust my Instinct?
You don’t have to stress about it at all! The Princeton Review can help you make the tough decision easier through expert guidance. We not only equip you with academic tools, but it can also guide you with test-taking intuitions that help you to go from good to great.
The company can provide you with the following:
1. Strategy-Focused ACT Prep: Build Smarter Instincts
The Princeton Review teaches strategies to build Smarter Instincts along with the ACT content. The company focuses on that students should understand the application of concepts under pressure, not only on learning the theory part, which ultimately builds confidence instincts in time-based tests.
This strategic thinking becomes the foundation of your test-day “gut.” You’re not guessing—you’re recognizing patterns you’ve trained on.
2. Realistic Practice: Simulate the Pressure
Real Practice strengthens your gut instincts; it’s not just the gods’ grace. You can’t have confidence in your intuitions until and unless you’ve practiced sufficiently.
The Princeton Review allows you to take a full-length ACT test on their website under real test conditions, which can help you test your gut instinct and sharpen your decision-making skills.
Over time, your “gut” decisions are based on experience, not panic.
You’ll begin to know:
- When to trust your first instinct
- When to take a second look
- When overthinking is hurting more than helping
3. Expert Feedback: Learn from Every Answer
Learning from your mistakes is the key to success, and that’s the biggest benefit of enrolling in The Princeton Review. Our program takes you through an individualized review process. At the end of the test, you don’t just get the score but also the breakdown of your strengths, weaknesses, and blind spots.
This includes:
- When and where did you change the answers
- Whether those changes helped or hurt
- Trends in second-guessing across subjects
That kind of insight is game-changing. It helps you see whether you’re being too hesitant or too quick to switch your answers. And most importantly, it shows you how to adjust your approach before the real thing.
4. Personalized Coaching: Build Confidence, Not Confusion
Sometimes, second-guessing comes from self-doubt, not a lack of knowledge.
With The Princeton Review’s one-on-one tutoring and small-group classes, you get direct access to instructors who help you:
- Identify when your instincts are reliable
- Work on the content that causes uncertainty, specifically
- Build confidence in tricky and difficult topics and areas like ACT Science or Reading
We don’t just make you study; we make you learn how to believe in your preparation.
5. Proven Results: Thousands of Students, Same Story
Students who prep with The Princeton Review often say the same thing:
“I stopped overthinking. I learned to trust myself.”
And the data backs it up. The Princeton Review has helped thousands of students:
- Boost scores by 4–6 points or more
- Reduce test anxiety
- Walk into the ACT feeling calm, ready, and in control
Final Thoughts: Gut Feeling, Backed by Strategy
Trusting your gut on the ACT isn’t about guessing—it’s about making informed decisions quickly and confidently. That ability doesn’t happen overnight. It’s built through smart practice, honest review, and the right guidance.
The Princeton Review gives you all three.
So if you’re tired of second-guessing and ready to start scoring like a pro, it might be time to train not just your brain, but your instincts.