Tips for correcting careless mistakes in GMAT quant section

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Hi!

I recently did the GMAT Prep software practice test #1 and I noticed that a considerable amount of the questions I got wrong in the quant section were due to careless mistakes where I rushed to the answer and did not read the problem or the statements thoroughly. I would appreciate some tips for reducing this type of mistakes.

Thank you!

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by [email protected] » Fri Jun 29, 2018 6:04 pm
Hi AE11,

In most cases, the 'cause' of silly mistakes is a lack of proper note-taking. Doing work "in your head" is NEVER the best way to approach a question (and over time, it's remarkably inefficient - working in that way will end up costing you lots of time AND points). Before I can offer you any additional advice, it would help if you could provide a bit more information on how you've been studying and your goals:

Studies:
1) How long have you studied?
2) What study materials have you used so far?
3) How have you scored on EACH of your CATs (including the Quant and Verbal Scaled Scores for EACH)?

Goals:
4) What is your goal score?
5) When are you planning to take the GMAT?
6) When are you planning to apply to Business School?
7) What Schools are you planning to apply to?

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Rich
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by Brent@GMATPrepNow » Sat Jun 30, 2018 4:53 am
AE11 wrote:Hi!

I recently did the GMAT Prep software practice test #1 and I noticed that a considerable amount of the questions I got wrong in the quant section were due to careless mistakes where I rushed to the answer and did not read the problem or the statements thoroughly. I would appreciate some tips for reducing this type of mistakes.

Thank you!
If silly mistakes are hurting your score, then it's important that you identify and categorize these mistakes. Some examples might include:
- sloppy writing causes a 7 to mysteriously turn into a 1
- you forget that a question is an EXCEPT question.
- you fail to notice crucial information such as x is an integer or w < 0.
- you calculate Pat's current age when the question asked for the Pat's age 5 years from now.
- and so on

Once you have identified the types of mistakes that YOU typically make, you will be able to spot situations/questions in which you're prone to making errors.
That said, many students benefit from a strategy of reading the question, determining the answer, then re-reading the question to ensure it was interpreted correctly the first time, and then submitting a response. Time consuming, but helps fend off silly mistakes.

I write about this and other strategies in the following article: https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/avo ... teaks-gmat

Cheers,
Brent
Brent Hanneson - Creator of GMATPrepNow.com
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by ceilidh.erickson » Mon Jul 02, 2018 9:50 am
AE11 wrote:Hi!

I recently did the GMAT Prep software practice test #1 and I noticed that a considerable amount of the questions I got wrong in the quant section were due to careless mistakes where I rushed to the answer and did not read the problem or the statements thoroughly. I would appreciate some tips for reducing this type of mistakes.

Thank you!
The #1 thing you can do to avoid careless mistakes: TRACK them! Review each question you've done deeply, and think about how you could do it better. Don't just move on to doing more and more problems. Track all mistakes in an ERROR LOG:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -studying/

Here are some other articles about correcting careless errors:
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... nt-errors/
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -problems/
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... your-back/
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... mat-score/
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... rt-1-of-2/
https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/
Ceilidh Erickson
EdM in Mind, Brain, and Education
Harvard Graduate School of Education

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by MartyMurray » Fri Aug 03, 2018 4:18 pm
AE11 wrote:Hi!

I recently did the GMAT Prep software practice test #1 and I noticed that a considerable amount of the questions I got wrong in the quant section were due to careless mistakes where I rushed to the answer and did not read the problem or the statements thoroughly. I would appreciate some tips for reducing this type of mistakes.

Thank you!
Much of the time when people practice GMAT quant by doing practice questions, they are pretty satisfied if they know how to get the correct answers to questions that they see. However, of course, GMAT quant , unlike many math tests, does not give credit for the work done or any other sign that you know HOW to get the correct answer. The GMAT gives credit for CORRECT ANSWERS only.

Thus, part of the way to reduce the number of careless errors that you make when taking the test is to focus on getting correct answers when you do practice questions. In other words, whether you need two minutes or ten minutes per question to get correct answers, take the time that you need when you are practicing. See how many you can get correct in a row. If you take all the time that you need, can you get ten in a row correct? Twenty?

Then, seek to speed up while still getting correct answers consistently. Don't speed up by reducing the quality of your work. Speed up by increasing understanding, skill, and efficiency.

Another thing to consider is that in some cases, what you are calling careless work may not be merely careless. If you carefully consider what you did, you may see that the reason that you made a wrong move was that you didn't fully get what you had to do in order to arrive at the correct answer. It's easy to look back and think that you made a careless error when, had you had a clearer understanding of the process required for arriving at the correct answer, you may not have made the seemingly careless errors that you made.
Marty Murray
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