How can I stop making silly mistakes? (1 Viewer)

[Johnny1995]

I am losing so many marks due to silly mistakes. I lost rank 1 in mx2 because of some silly mistakes.
How can I reduce them? Is doing past papers in exam conditions a good way to practice not making silly mistakes?

 

[Kimyia]

Yes past papers is a good way to get used to doing questions and watching out for mistakes you tend to make.
Another thing I've heard of is keeping a list of the mistakes you tend to make often. Then before an exam, go over your list so when your doing the exam, you know what mistakes to keep an eye out for and make sure you correct them.

 

[asianese]

If you usually finish papers early, do them slowly and carefully. Prevention is better than cure. When you're checking over your work you'll be less likely to find errors purely because you are rushed and are not concentrating on finding errors. Not to mention trying to find that - sign in the midst of a page of algebra isn't fun, nor does it work.

 

[HeroicPandas]

FULL CONCENTRATION (LIKE FULL-ON) when doing maths question, even if its differentiating x^2

worked for me, might work for u

 

[anomalousdecay]

In my extension 1 exam lost half a mark because I put this in an induction question:

5-2 = -3

Lost half a mark again in extension 2 because of this:

-3A = 5 . Therefore A = -(3/5)


Is this plain stupidity or what?

 

[Crobat]

As with all math subjects, practise. When you practise the work try not to skip any steps at all. You would usually make silly mistakes when skipping steps that you would consider easy to do in your head.

 

[shak99]

With maths its simple, practice makes perfect. Also studying in groups and/or teacher feedback is always useful for cutting out mistakes.

 

[Makematics]

In my ext 2 half yearly, after like 2 pages of working for a 4 marker, i made the most ridiculous tiny mistake in the VERY last line. i dont know if it was pure luck or fate, but the marker didnt take a mark off and this was a strict marker too mistake was something like 5x^2 - 9/2x + 3/2=0 ---> 5x^2 -9x +3=0

 

[Makematics]

and yeah, as stated above, practice makes perfect. luckily you can actually set up a practice maths test in your own room under exam conditions. with some things in life you dont have that luxury. by doing past papers UNDER EXAM CONDITIONS, you can find what pace suits you and you can find a way to eliminate sillies. and as heroic said, YOU GOTTA BE FOCUSED!!! REALLY FOCUSED!

 

[braintic]

When checking your solutions (assuming you have time) look for a different method to confirm your answer. eg. use slices to confirm a volume done by shells.
Also use methods of approximation to see if your answers make sense.

 

[jenslekman]

Also, make sure your solution is simplified for example I made a mistake where i left my answer as "2-6" and not -4

 

[braintic]

Also, make sure your solution is simplified for example I made a mistake where i left my answer as "2-6" and not -4

Seriously? They penalised you for this? They wouldn't worry about that in the HSC.

 

[Carrotsticks]

Seriously? They penalised you for this? They wouldn't worry about that in the HSC.

Unfortunately at some schools, even the most trivial of things get docked.

One test, we had to sketch a polynomial, which I did. I labelled stationary points, intercepts etc, but still got docked even though it was correct.

Reason: I didn't draw a 'scale'. I had labelled the crucial points only (ie x intercepts etc) but did not draw the increments 1,2,3..leading up to 6.

 

[nuffsaidm8]

Don't do em

 

[nerdasdasd]

Don't do em

Nuff said.

 

[braintic]

Unfortunately at some schools, even the most trivial of things get docked.

One test, we had to sketch a polynomial, which I did. I labelled stationary points, intercepts etc, but still got docked even though it was correct.

Reason: I didn't draw a 'scale'. I had labelled the crucial points only (ie x intercepts etc) but did not draw the increments 1,2,3..leading up to 6.

Am I allowed to ask which school that was?

 

[RivalryofTroll]

Have enough sleep.

 

[superSAIyan2]

FULL CONCENTRATION (LIKE FULL-ON) when doing maths question, even if its differentiating x^2

But thats so easy. Its obviously x^3/3 + c

 

[crex]

there r some pretty good advice from this thread: http://community.boredofstudies.org/showthread.php?t=297685&highlight=careless

and the following article is a pretty good read regarding this matter:
http://lifehacker.com/the-science-of-practice-what-happens-when-you-learn-a-510255025

 

[Combo]

do 1000 questions and for every question that you make a silly mistake do 100 more