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How do you stop making silly/stupid mistakes in exams?? (1 Viewer)

ForbiddenND

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more specifically in maths exams how do you stop making stupid mistakes. like i know everything and i know i can get high marks if not full but these stupid mistakes keep holding me back and its really frustrating :spzz:. anyone got tips on how to not screw up........
 
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hmm. i sometimes have the silly mistakes problem in maths, but its fairly decreased over the years so im happi. but i think the key is to seriously focus on the question and practice that aspect/topic so well that u noe and can confidently do a question. coz in maths, although remembering formulas is one small part, practicing and applying it is what really matters. if u practise enuff, it shudnt be too bad i suppose.
but i really think under a test situation, its to concentrate very hard on the question and show all working out to ensure ur not making silly mistakes.
hope that helps. =]
 
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Give time to check and re-check your work over and over and over again.
 

h3ll h0und

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work a steady pace (dont go at 10000miles/hour) when doing the exam so that your less likely to make a silly mistake and if u have time at the end go through your answers again...and again...and again...and again....until times up
to practice working at a good pace do lots of past papers and do lots of questions within a time limit ...thats wat i usually do and so far its been working pretty well for me (in maths :p)
 

allira92

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but dont do what i did in my most recent maths exam in going stedily through all the easy questions making sure i dont make any silly little mistakes and end up running out of time and panicing for the harder stuff....
 

ForbiddenND

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my prob is i dont feel any pressure that why i go so slowly and dont carefully enough check my work (does that make sense lol)
 

iRuler

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work a steady pace (dont go at 10000miles/hour) when doing the exam so that your less likely to make a silly mistake and if u have time at the end go through your answers again...and again...and again...and again....until times up
to practice working at a good pace do lots of past papers and do lots of questions within a time limit ...thats wat i usually do and so far its been working pretty well for me (in maths :p)
I go at the speed of light :bomb:which leads to epic failure!:bomb::bomb::bomb:

But to not make mistakes is get regular practice and make sure you know the content well, because sometimes its hard to check over your answers properly in an exam, there's opportunity cost involved:rofl:
 

Trans4M

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i have similar problems too but over the years, my silly mistakes have dropped. I guess you just need to practice more questions and read the question, underlining the main thing being asked.

For example question says

Find domain and range of graph y = _________

This is what I do to question

Find domain and range of graph y = _________

but with other things like adding and subtracting incorrectly, you just need to check your answers again. Even maybe do it again to ensure you end up with same answer. I know it is a waste of time but if you have some time to spare, might as well use it
 
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midnightpen

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i have the same problem. i guess you just have to keep practicing and make sure you use the time at the end to check your work.
 

imsopostmodern

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it's all about focus and concentration. make sure you're properly rested and have had enough brain food
 

h3ll h0und

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but dont do what i did in my most recent maths exam in going stedily through all the easy questions making sure i dont make any silly little mistakes and end up running out of time and panicing for the harder stuff....
lol iv had that problem as well :( ... i guess if u hav reading time...u can look at the amount of marks for each question and then determine how long ur gonna take to finish each question so u finish on time and hopefully hav time to rechek
 

m.jakaran

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What I do is to do the paper at maximum speed and then do it again on the actual exam paper. Cross check and do any questions with different answers again.
 

namesAsh

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more specifically in maths exams how do you stop making stupid mistakes. like i know everything and i know i can get high marks if not full but these stupid mistakes keep holding me back and its really frustrating :spzz:. anyone got tips on how to not screw up........
You've probably heard it all from your teachers and whatnot but just in case someone here didn't, here's how I'd prevent silly mistakes in a maths exam.

If the question shows you what it's worth, that's normally a good indicator of how many lines of working out you need. That being said you should show full working out anyways.

If you get a really long mofo-of-a question take it easy and do every single step unless you are truly confident in skipping steps.

Make sure you know your formulas and sub in values correctly, label values in the questions if you have to.

Obviously practise makes perfect and it doesn't hurt to always check your answers too.

And if you're like me and tend to scribble out mistakes in the middle of an equation try not to, it can get really messy and when you double check your work you won't remember your train of thought at the time you did the question.
 

adomad

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I go at the speed of light :bomb:
I am sorry to inform you sir, but moving at such speeds is not possible.
According to Einstein's theory of special relativity, published in 1905, nothing can exceed the speed of light.The same theory says that objects gain mass as they speed up, and that speeding up requires energy. The more mass, the more energy is required. By the time an object reached the speed of light, Einstein calculated, its mass would be infinite, and so would the amount of energy required to increase its speed. To go beyond the infinite is impossible.


One hundred years of testing have only reinforced what Einstein wrote, said Donald Schneider, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at Penn State. "There is no experiment that has contradicted special relativity. We have accelerated sub-atomic particles to well over 99 per cent of the speed of light, but not equal to or exceeding the speed of light.
"Theoretically, strange things happen when you exceed the speed of light," Schneider added. Time travel, for one thing, and a breakdown in cause and effect. Schneider uses an example of hitting a target with a gun that shoots bullets faster than the speed of light. "Some observers would see the bullet hit the target before they saw the shooter fire the gun," he said. "Since one of the guiding principles of relativity is that all physical laws are the same to all observers, this violation of causality would be a big problem."


there is one option that would make ur claim correct and that is if you took into account worm holes. "wormholes" -- shortcuts through space-time that would permit point-to-point travel faster than light -- and "warp drives," a kind of bubble created in space in which relativity wouldn't apply.
Although they have become staples of science fiction, tachyons, worm holes and warp drives remain speculation, and many physicists dismiss their significance. There is, however, at least one real-world example of superluminal (i.e., faster-than-light) travel. It occurs when light passes through water.
In this dense medium, Schneider explained, light is slowed to three-fourths of its speed in a vacuum. In a nuclear reactor, charged particles flying off the radioactive rods through the water they are submerged in exceed this reduced speed.


Because these particles contain an electric charge, they emit energy, called Cherenkov radiation. Any particles they bump into become radioactive, giving the water a characteristic blue glow.
"It's not at all exotic," Schneider said. "Every time you look at the water in a nuclear reactor, the bluish glow you see is radiation produced by charged particles moving faster than the speed of light in the water."
Still, slowing light down in order to beat it is cheating, Schneider conceded. And although he's not closing his mind to the possibility that relativity will one day be amended, for now, he said, Einstein's theory is the final word

so i don't think that the odds are in your favor man...
 

irate

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Give time to check and re-check your work over and over and over again.
This. And what's also important - before you go into the exam, think POSITIVE. Research has shown that positive reinforcement in maths (or anything really) boosts your confidence and you are less likely to make mistakes. Alternatively, negative reinforcement produces weaker marks.

Of course, there are many other reasons why people produce poor marks, like lack of effective study and revision, however, as you say, you know your shit, so poor knowledge isn't an issue here. So, effectively, I think what will help you is positive thinking and going over your work at least twice before the exam is up. Good luck!
 

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