Worried About Doing Too Much In My Head

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Worried About Doing Too Much In My Head

by DevitaN » Thu Aug 25, 2011 5:52 am
For starters, I am prone to errors. I realize this so I make sure when calculating equations I write down every step. I don't try to do things in my head. The majority of questions I get wrong are from skipping a step, going too quickly and mis-reading the question. I have been slowing down my work (Still completing questions in under 2 minutes each), making sure I understand what the question is asking for and doing every single step. (Which I suppose goes hand in hand with slowing down)

I was hoping to hear other peoples experiences. While I am by no means some math wiz, I am very comfortable with the study of math, dare I say I enjoy it? I use the MGMAT Archer and MGMAT will say what level the problem is. Yesterday I did about 6 or 7 700-800 level problems where I didn't have to write a THING down on my scrap paper while still getting them all right. I tried to write what the question gave me down but it honestly was but a rewrite of what they already explicitely told me. I tried, but the answer seemed so blatantly obvious. I couldn't believe they were advanced questions! When I go look at the work MGMAT and the OG did, my head start spinning and it seems almost like a convoluted way of getting to where I got. I am worried that something so obvious (at least to me) would be a massive trap to get me to choose the wrong answer, but none were.

Just wondering about others experience with this. I am worried that I am not doing enough work and don't have enough comprehension of the topic, yet it seems so obvious and I don't see why I would complicate things.

Has anyone been in a similiar situation? Did you force yourself to understand all the different ways or did you chalk it up to understanding that type of problem better than most and allocate your time towards questions which give you legitimate difficulty?

Thanks!
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by gmatboost » Thu Aug 25, 2011 10:04 pm
Take a timed practice test. If you get most of the questions right and score well, your method is probably okay.
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