Spelling Correction Questions
How do you answer spelling correction questions when you're unsure of the word?
Compare the letter patterns shared across the answer options, since the correct spelling usually shares its most distinctive feature — a doubled letter, a particular ending — with most of the other options. Treat "leave it as it is" as a genuine possible answer, not a last resort, if the original word already looks correct.
Why this question rewards pattern-matching, not just memory
Spelling questions are rare — often only one per assessment — but they're worth having a fallback method for, since not every student's spelling is equally strong. The good news is these questions are built from a small number of plausible misspellings, and comparing them against each other reveals patterns even without knowing the correct spelling outright.
Worked example
Choose the option that best replaces the underlined word: She was known to exaggerate every detail.
A. Exaggerrate B. Exagerrate C. Exaggerete D. Exaggeratte E. Leave it as it is
Four of the five options share a doubled "gg," which suggests the correct spelling also has it — that rules out Option B. Four options also end in some form of "-ate," ruling out Option C.
That leaves Options A, D and E. A and D share a doubled letter pattern near the end that E doesn't, but A and E share a single "r" where D doubles it. Working through which pattern is shared by the most surviving options points to E: the original spelling, unchanged, is correct. Option E is correct.
When to trust "leave it as it is"
This option exists in every question of this type and is correct roughly as often as the others. Don't treat it as an admission of defeat or assume the assessors wouldn't include a word that's already correct — if nothing about the underlined word looks wrong to you, it's a legitimate answer, not a guess of last resort.
Steps
- Compare all five options for shared letter patterns — doubled letters, common endings
- Use patterns shared by the majority of options as a guide to the likely correct form
- Narrow to the two or three options sharing the most patterns with each other
- Don't discount "leave it as it is" — it is correct as often as any other option
This is one chapter of the Scholarship & Entrance English Assessment Guide. The complete guide — every technique, collected in one document — is available as a free PDF from the guide's main page.