Do you agree that you act confident in answering questions during a board even if you do not know the answer?

The best you can do is grab the MOI and memorize each topic's regulation and when faced with a question you don't know you can say " I don't know the answer for that question but I will research AR, FM... to enhance my knowledge and to better lead my present and future Soldiers."

Your rational makes total sense. For similar reasons, I also disagree with the reasoning that you shouldn't mention your aspirations to become an officer or warrant officer at an enlisted promotion board. Essentially, we are asking our soldiers to lie to get promoted. When we allow these untruths to be acceptable even at a small level, it opens the door for similar situations to occur in the future. It's a situation where tradition does not match doctrine. We are bonded by tradition, but meant to follow doctrine. It's not my decision to identify where the line of acceptability is drawn. I imagine you are similar to me, and want these traditions to stick closer to what doctrine tells us about leadership and ethics. If I feel that it's a lie, I'm not going to say it. The best advice I can give is to try and find a way to phrase it where you are being truthful, but it also appeases this tradition of always invoking confidence.

LTJG (Join to see) this is something I bring up when discussing the need for a change in promotion policy. The point of "sound confident, even if you don't know" is more about making and sticking to a decision. Even if you're wrong/right and the board members attempt to sway your answer. The thing they're looking for is can you make an assertive decision.

If you don't know at the board, then go with that, but with confidence. Own it.

But again the entire system is in absolute shambles. How many times do you think to yourself "how the fuck did that get picked up?" Or how many times is the phrase "NCOs these days" blah blah blah stated. We have problems and will continue to have worsening problems the longer the army holds off fixing the cause (the board system) and as long as the army also remains in its current stance as far as BCT goes, we will soon be an army without soldiers. Just an organization of primarily college aged selfish students.