Enginpasa1 wrote:I identified some new weaknesses and this is always good news. However, frustrating and I wonder how close I am to my 700.
I did serious algebra work today from my kaplan book and went over my mistakes from yesterday. This is quite draining but its the best steps toward the goal. Here are some stats from the kaplan course book.
question bank: ALgebra (ps and ds)
6/10 - not good,
8/10 better
20/23 ideal
17/24 -
overall : 51/67
Reasons for mistakes:
1.misinterpreting the question
2. Once, I wrote down d instead of E
3.Didnt pick numbers mayonnaise way
4. lost train of thought, didn't see the obvious math right in front of me
5. forgot to back solve and tried to plow through the question rather than trying creative ways.
6. didn't follow the equation and mixed up information
Overall, I don't suffer from a lack of math and this is a good thing.I was only stumped two times. But the frustrating part is that I keep falling prey to avoidable mistakes.
Huge weakness identified: Big News!
In a number properties 23 question exam that had ds and ps I scored 16/23. This is definitely not representative of my capabilities. Exactly 5 of the questions were wrong from complete carelessness.
#11: Misread question
#12: Tested numbers correctly but then didn't plug numbers in correctly
#14: Forgot to test two as a prime. Of course 2 is a prime.
#16: Hasty computations- didn't read question carefully
#18: Didnt understand the question
#19:Forgot to account for 0 as a set of numbers also.
#23:only question that puzzled me!
Mistakes made from last night are also similar:My common errors
1. Didn't test to solidify choice (ds)
2.Didn't adhere to pemdas
3.Did math in my head but if done on paper would have seen the error
4.Didn't follow the equation and deviated from the original equation when testing numbers.
5.Forgot to back solve
6.Plugged in numbers carelessly
7..Didn't read the whole question carefully - never got a full understanding of the question.
The good news is that there is no clear weakness of math topics. I almost immediately know where I went wrong and there is not much confusion on what I could have done better. I know where the error is but must learn how to apply it to the next set of questions. But the frustrating part is that it is carelessness and completely avoidable errors. I must make a strategy to clean this error off.
Exam Number properties test #2: 15/22
3: didn't read statement #2 correctly - hasty
7.didn't know math correctly
8.got tricked on choice C. Didn't see that I could have proved c wrong also!
11. didn't know math correctly
12.careless mistake - didnt plug tested number into the equation correctly.
14.missed the math
20. didnt understand the question.
I will make flashcards of all mistakes and study with breakfast. BUt its amazing to find how many mistakes are made from careless error, picking correct numbers and plugging in wrong and not reading the statement or question correctly.
In order to balance my verbal and quantitative studies, I did two passages on reading comprehension. Scored 9/10 (inference mistake).
The best part of all these frustrating yet informative numbers is that I can easily raise my math scores by employing a carelesseness approach.
Lessons Learned:
1. read the question twice
2.check all math steps and verify answer
3.never ever deviate from the given equation given plugging in numbers
4.remember that haste is your biggest enemy
5.make sure to check your picked numbers against all parameters
6.recheck your answer each time!
need to turbo charge this study strategy!
7.Read the whole question, understand it and then rephrase in order to fit the question.
8.Keep neat computations or you will almost always pick the trap answer.
9.Stay Suspicous and alwaysquestion your hcoice answer by trying to prove it wrong.
10.NEVER MAKE THE MATH HARDER THAN WHAT IT REALLY IS.
well, it sounds like you've taken a fairly complete inventory of your problems here, so i'm not too sure how much else i can add. but here is a suggestion:
try to use
different learning modalities as much as possible. what this means is that you should try to employ your visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning capacities while you study; the more you can employ all three, the more effective your learning is likely to be. here are some possibilities:
* try writing important or elusive facts in different colors (for instance, noting in bright red, baby blue, etc. facts like '2 is prime' that keep escaping from your mind)
* try reciting facts out loud to a study partner, friend, etc. perhaps
saying the facts out loud will help you over and above simple silent studying.
* if you're making mistakes with signs, parentheses, operations, etc., try using colors to help you out. for instance, put + and - in one color, exponents in another color, x and / in a third color, etc., and just remember the order in which the colors are supposed to go.
(all the color suggestions may seem third-grade-ish, but many studies have shown that colors, more than anything else, are what the human brain has the easiest time with learning)
for all those lil' bity things that you're having trouble with, using tricks like colors, out-loud recitation, etc. may be the trick you're waiting for.
