Overthinking GMAT questions? Here's the solution

Do you get questions wrong because you overthink?

For many people, the answer is yes. Overthinking is commonly considered to be a cause of going wrong. “I got this wrong because I was overthinking. My first instinct was actually correct.”

Given that the problem is overthinking, what do you think should be the solution?

Think less. Right?

How much less?

Given that your first instinct was correct, you should not think beyond the first instinct. In other words, choose the option your first instinct or gut agrees with.

Do you think this is going to increase your accuracy?

You can try this out and see.

I hypothesize that your accuracy will not increase. Instead, it will likely decrease.

So, am I saying that overthinking is not decreasing your accuracy but increasing your accuracy?

Before I answer this question, we need to be clear about the meaning of “overthinking.” What does overthinking mean?

Is any thinking beyond the first instinct or gut response considered overthinking?

If yes, eliminating overthinking means eliminating all conscious reasoning. It would mean going by your gut response. If you are supposed to always go with your gut response, why study courses, learn rules, or reason out things? Just go with what your gut says.

If you argue that a little conscious thinking is not overthinking, can you tell me where exactly you draw the line between thinking and overthinking??

What is the threshold at which thinking becomes overthinking?

Generally, people don’t have an answer to this question. They start ‘overthinking’ if I ask this question ??

Let me peek into your mind to tell you what you call ‘overthinking.’

1. If you thought a lot about a question and got it right, you were reasoning out.
2. If you thought a lot about a question and got it wrong, you were overthinking.
3. If you thought a lot about a question and did not get anywhere, you were overthinking.

So, whether you call your thinking reasoning out or overthinking depends on the outcome. If you succeeded, it was reasoning out. If you did not, it was overthinking.

Now, if you start thinking less, you will also stop getting right those questions that you ‘reasoned out.’

Am I saying that thinking less is not a solution?

Yes.

Then, what is the solution to overthinking?

There is no solution.

What!

Yes, there is no solution to overthinking because overthinking is not even a problem. The problem lies in calling it a problem. Reread the previous sentence!

The problem is that you are misidentifying your problem. You think a lot and get a question wrong, but does that mean that you got the question wrong because you thought a lot?

No, correlation does not mean causation (Have you read my article on correlation and causation? If not, here’s the link .)

Rather, there is a common cause of both thinking a lot and getting the question wrong. The cause is a lack of clarity.?

Clarity is of two types:

1. What is correct and why?
2. What is incorrect and why?

A lack of clarity does not mean that you don’t have correct thoughts in your mind. However, it means that you also have incorrect thoughts in your mind. And you’re thinking a lot because you cannot figure out which thoughts are correct and which thoughts are incorrect.

At times, the incorrect thought strikes first. You think about the question and then arrive at the correct answer. These times, you say you arrived at the correct answer by ‘reasoning out.’

At other times, the correct thought strikes first. You think about the question and then go with the incorrect answer. These times, you say you got the question wrong because you were overthinking.

And you are very likely to remember the second case but not the first case. Why so? Because the second case has a much bigger emotional impact on you. “Oh no! I was right initially, but then this overthinking made me go wrong!”

Since you are much more likely to remember the second case, you start believing that the second case happens much more frequently than the first case. So, you believe that your problem is overthinking.

However, the problem is not overthinking or thinking a lot. The problem is a lack of clarity. For example, I think a lot. Rather, at times, I think much beyond what the question requires. Rather, this is how I have built clarity. I have been going much deeper into things than required. I don’t become confused when I think a lot. But you become confused. Why?

Because you have conflicting thoughts. You have correct thoughts as well as incorrect thoughts, and you don’t know which ones are correct. So, as you think deeply, you become confused, or you become convinced of the wrong thing.

The problem is not thinking deeply; the problem is having those incorrect thoughts.?

If you understand this is the problem, the solution will also be clear. The solution is simply to clarify which thoughts are correct and which are incorrect.

How to gain this clarity?

By thinking a lot. Let your thoughts fly. Don’t suppress your thoughts. Let all kinds of thoughts come to the fore. And then, write down your thoughts.

Then, one by one, try to evaluate each thought, first in isolation and then in comparison with other thoughts. Write down your reasons for selecting or rejecting the thoughts. You may, of course, take assistance from a friend or a teacher in evaluating the correctness of your various thoughts.

As you become clear about what is correct and what is incorrect, you’ll get questions right without becoming messed up in your thinking. Thus, your problems of ‘overthinking’ and accuracy will be solved.

So far, your problem of ‘overthinking’ was not solved because you had not identified the problem correctly. When the diagnosis itself was incorrect, how could the treatment be correct?

Now that you understand the problem, you can solve it.