Hi Nums99,
To start, the good news is that you’ve already scored 710 on an official practice exam, so with some further dedicated prep, you probably can improve your GMAT score.
Now, regarding your careless errors, the reality is that there are a multitude of reasons why you may be making silly mistakes. Those reasons range from not reading carefully to writing sloppily to making mental math mistakes. In fact, I wrote an article that discusses
those and more causes of careless errors, and how to fix those issues.
While it’s quite possible that your careless errors are due to some of the reasons I’ve already mentioned, it’s also entirely possible that your careless errors are due, in some part, to a relative lack of GMAT quant knowledge. For instance, if you are presented with a quant problem that you may feel uneasy about, then that general uneasiness can lead to simple mistakes. On any GMAT, you must answer difficult and convoluted math questions in a timed and pressure-filled environment, so if you don’t know GMAT quant like the back of your hand, careless errors are likely, right? Take the following example:
14! is equal to which of the following?
(A) 87,178,291,200
(B) 88,180,293,207
(C) 89,181,294,209
(D) 90,000,000,003
(E) 91,114,114,114
Upon seeing this question, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Grabbing a calculator to add up the values in the expression? If you are able to quickly recognize that using the “5 x 2 pair rule” will allow you to efficiently attack the problem (see the solution below), the question becomes very basic, and you can avoid having to perform tedious calculations that are likely to result in a silly mistake.
Solution:
Notice that there is at least one (5 × 2) pair contained in the product of these numbers. It follows that the units digit must be a zero. The only number with zero as the units digit is 87,178,291,200.
Answer: A
This is just one example, but hopefully you can see that by a) recognizing what the question is asking and b) properly attacking the question, your propensity to make a silly mistake greatly decreases.
If you’d like more detailed advice on how to improve your GMAT quant or verbal skills or if you have any further questions, feel free to reach back out.
Also, you may find it helpful to read the following article:
How to Score a 700+ on the GMAT — A Mini Guide for SuccessI have a week left now and i am thinking of giving 4 mocks this week just to get aquainted with the pressure do you think thats a good idea i have just bought gmat prep 3&4