Answer the question that was asked

Every question on the paper has four options and exactly one best answer. Sit with that word for a second: best. Not "only correct". Best. It tells you how the other three were written: to be plausible, defensible in part, and attractive to someone reading quickly. The distractors are not filler; they are the exam.

That is why the most valuable technique habit on the paper costs nothing to learn and takes weeks to make automatic: finish with the stem before you let the options speak.

The options are advocates

Read the stem carelessly and then read the options, and something predictable happens: the options start telling you what the question was. Each one is a small advocate for its own version of events, and the best-written wrong option is an advocate for a question that is almost the one asked. Almost.

The defence is sequencing. Read the stem to the end. Say to yourself, in your own words, what is actually being asked: who wants what, and what is the question really turning on? If you can manage a rough guess at the answer before looking down, better still. Then the options become things you judge instead of things that recruit you.

The words that flip questions

A handful of words do most of the damage: except, not, least, must, may, first, best next step. Every tutor has watched a strong candidate miss a question they understood completely because the stem said "least likely" and their eyes said "likely".

These words deserve a physical habit, not a mental note. Underline them, circle them, whatever your medium allows, but make your hand do something, because a hand catches what a tired eye slides past. On a long paper you are not defending against ignorance; you are defending against hour three.

Your report knows if this is your problem

The technique posts on this blog all end the same way for a reason: you do not have to wonder whether this applies to you. If your practice reports show quick, unflagged misses, questions you answered fast, felt fine about, and got wrong, that is the signature of a reading problem rather than a knowledge problem. It is also the best news a report can give you, because reading habits fix in weeks, while knowledge gaps fix in months.

One point per question, and the misread ones are the cheapest points you will ever recover.