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How to avoid stupid mistakes?

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How to avoid stupid mistakes?

by MK2007 » Fri Nov 23, 2007 10:52 pm
Hi!
First, thanks for making this forum available, it's been very useful!
Does anyone know of an efficient way to prevent stupid mistakes?
I don't know if there is really an answer to this question, I am asking just in case someone has a strategy I could use.
Most of my stupid mistakes happen in the quantitave section.
I answer all the questions and manage to have some extra time at the end. When I check the answers, I realize that there are a few wrong answers. I look at the question stem and see that I did not read some critical info. For example, I used real numbers when the question is about using integers.

I thought about looking at the question again once I have my answer for that question but I m worried I would loose too much time doing that.
:shock:
Thanks in advance.
MK
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Re: How to avoid stupid mistakes?

by beatthegmat » Fri Nov 23, 2007 11:09 pm
MK2007 wrote:Hi!
First, thanks for making this forum available, it's been very useful!
Does anyone know of an efficient way to prevent stupid mistakes?
I don't know if there is really an answer to this question, I am asking just in case someone has a strategy I could use.
Most of my stupid mistakes happen in the quantitave section.
I answer all the questions and manage to have some extra time at the end. When I check the answers, I realize that there are a few wrong answers. I look at the question stem and see that I did not read some critical info. For example, I used real numbers when the question is about using integers.

I thought about looking at the question again once I have my answer for that question but I m worried I would loose too much time doing that.
:shock:
Thanks in advance.
MK
99% of the time, careless errors occur because you are pacing yourself too quickly. You've indicated that you have extra time at the end of your quant section, and this isn't ideal--you should be sticking to a pace that takes advantage of every single minute available to you for each section.

Try to practice slowing down. I had a similar issue to you during my own prep, and I was able to resolve a lot of careless errors by being a little more deliberate with each question and practicing with a timer.

Good luck!
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by Stacey Koprince » Wed Dec 05, 2007 1:20 pm
Keep a log of the specific careless mistakes you make - they can happen for all kinds of reasons and, even when they are do simply to rushing, we all have certain ways in which we tend to slip up when we rush. You have to find out what those are before you can figure out how not to make them.

If you consistently miss key info in quant question stems, make a habit of writing down EVERY piece of info in the problem. Use shorthand, but write down everything. When the problem tells me x is a positive integer, I write down x=+int on my scrap paper. Every single time - the action of doing this helps me to keep that info in my short-term memory. That, in turn, helps to minimize the chance that you miss some small detail that turns out to be very important, particularly when you know that the quant section NEVER gives you extraneous information. Every piece of info in the quant problem is there b/c it's important to the problem for some reason.

If you find yourself making errors due to doing math in your head, write EVERY step down, even the easy ones (I do this on the test - it doesn't take any more time if you just always write whatever you're thinking).

Etc. The key is - you have to know why you're making an error in order to be able to do something about it.
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by mayonnai5e » Wed Dec 05, 2007 3:01 pm
What I did to overcome my silly mistakes was simple and effective. For each stupid mistake, you should analyze that mistake and determine where you went wrong. Why did you make that silly mistake? Where in your thought path did you go stray? Or perhaps the problem was that your thought path never went there that specific idea?

Once you determine the what? where? when? how? why? of the silly mistake, you can start to create small steps to eliminate them. For example, I noticed that I often forgot to go back to the original information given in quant DS questions. Say for example, the question states that x is a non-negative integer, but when I get to combined stmt 1 + 2 part of the exam, I find out x can be 2 or -2 and think, "oh there are two values....INSUFF." My mistake there is that I've forgotten about the initial info. So anytime I saw any information that would reduce the set of possible values I would write something like "x int > 0" and then circles it in a big gigantic circle.

By doing this, I took a step to AVOID the problem before it occurred. Take steps to reduce the chances that a silly mistake will occur and you should see improvements. But these steps take practice and constant application so practice practice.
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