My AP chemistry teacher in high school once spent an entire class complaining about how the teacher in the “regular” chemistry class made her students memorize the periodic table. His argument was that he wanted us to know when we didn’t know the right answer and more importantly where to go find the correct answer. I think he would agree with this article from Lifehacker which suggests that saying “I don’t know” helps to prevent you from jumping to conclusions. The one thing I would add is that any statement of “I don’t know” should always be followed with “… but I can find out.”
What do you think? Does admitting you don’t know anything help or hurt you in the long run?
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