A farmer has 17 sheep. All but 9 of them run away. How many sheep does the farmer have left?
There is no arithmetic to do here at all. Every wrong answer on this question comes from computing something the sentence never asked for.
The trap is in one word
Nine sheep are left. All but nine ran away means nine did not run away. The subtraction most people reach for, 17 minus 9, is answering a question that was never asked.
The item works because the sentence contains two numbers and a verb that suggests removal. That pattern triggers a subtraction before the phrase all but has been processed at all. The arithmetic is trivial; the reading is where it goes wrong.
Real versions of this error are everywhere: contract clauses, medical instructions, exam questions, technical documentation. A single qualifier flips the meaning and the reader has already moved on.
How to read more carefully without reading slower
This is the ability on the test that improves fastest, because it is a habit rather than a capacity. A single week of deliberate attention to qualifiers changes it.
Reading everything slowly is not the answer, because you cannot sustain it and most text does not need it. The workable approach is knowing which sentences deserve a second pass and giving only those the extra effort.
Sentences with a number and a qualifier in them are the highest yield place to look. So are negations, exceptions and anything with unless, except, at least or all but. Those words carry the meaning and they are short enough to skim past.
- Restate the question in your own words before you answer it
- Slow down on qualifiers: all but, except, unless, at least, no more than
- Notice when a sentence contains numbers you were not asked to combine
- On anything that matters, read the question again after choosing
Restating in your own words is the same mechanism behind active recall, which is the most effective study technique there is. We cover it and five others in study tips that actually stick, which opens in a new tab.
Choose your answer and your estimated score appears on the next page, along with what it does and does not mean.