Silly Mistakes?

I agree there needs to be a relabeling of a 'silly' mistake. That makes it too easy to dismiss.

Try to recognize what kind of mistake it was, why you made it, and, importantly, what habit you need to utilize to correct it.

If you notice arithmetic mistakes costing you points, you need to find a way to correct for that. You can practice arithmetic, to be clear--that's a good way to stop making mistakes. I suggest this: https://arithmetic.zetamac.com/

But you can also force yourself to double check the arithmetic the moment you do it. A good way to do this is to 'undo' it.

For instance, 24 - 16 = 12.

Is 12 + 16 = 24? Wait, no. 12 + 16 = 28...

Oh 24 - 16 is 8.

(Bonus, this also doubles the arithmetic you do in practice, which will make you better at arithmetic).

I had a student once who paid for 10 hours of tutoring. No small amount of change! It was our fifth session (hours 8-10). In three of our previous four sessions (and I'd written it in our notes), I'd told her, "You tend to make arithmetic mistakes that are costing you points. You need to be aware of this and check for these mistakes as you work."

Now, in our fifth session, we're doing a problem, one that requires picking numbers, doing some arithmetic to get a value, plugging that value into answers, doing more arithmetic, until the right answer appears. A good strategy, overall!

But as I watched her work, I watched her write down something like 24 - 16 = 12. And I saw it and just let her keep working to make a point, because from that point on, she's toast. Her only hope is to make another mistake that *happens* to undo this mistake.

Eventually, after she'd plugging in for a another minute (and, because her numbers were wrong, chaos ensued), I told her "This is a great strategy. But what should you, specifically you, need to be sure of before you start plugging into all the answer choices?"

She said all sorts of wrong things before I finally had to tell her, "This is our fifth session. In three of our previous four, I've pointed out you make too many arithmetic mistakes. The fact that you haven't realized you need to check arithmetic is a problem." Notice that I didn't say the fact that she *made* the mistake was the problem. The issue was that the notion she had made an arithmetic mistake was not even fathomable to her, even then, after paying no small amount of money for tutoring to diagnose that issue.

Our brains want to protect us from the ABSOLUTE HORROR OF BEING INCORRECT!!! Note that our brains don't do this by making us *right*, but just by making us *think* that we're right. (note: practicing away this little psychological quirk is a great idea--both the *fear* of being wrong, and the illusion of certainty that comes with it). People who make 'silly' mistakes seem to never think, in the moment, that they might be making the silly mistake they've made dozens of times before--unless they *actively practice looking and correcting for it.*

I told this student, as I tell all students, there is *nothing wrong with making mistakes*. The error is in continuing to think we are *incapable of making mistakes*, and thus never developing habits that correct for them.

Hi lakshya14,

I have the perfect article for you to check out:

Improving Your Accuracy on the GMAT

Feel free to reach out with additional questions.