Silly mistakes both in quant and in verbal

Hi patto,

I’m glad you reached out, and I’m happy to help. Regarding your careless errors, the real question you should ask is WHY you are making silly mistakes on GMAT exams. There are a multitude of possible reasons, ranging 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. While I understand that you don’t believe you have a “knowledge issue,” you must remember that unless you know GMAT quant and verbal like the back of your hand, when presented with a GMAT quant or verbal problem in a timed and pressure-filled environment, you are likely to make some sort of careless mistake. 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.

Although I’m unsure of how you currently are preparing for the GMAT, moving forward, I recommend that you follow a structured study plan that allows you to methodically find and fix your remaining quant and verbal weaknesses. Studying in such a way ensures that you develop sound mastery of GMAT quant and verbal and thus make fewer careless errors. Once you improve those skills, then resume taking practice exams.

If you’d like more detailed advice on how to improve your GMAT quant skills, or if you have any further questions, feel free to reach back out. Also, you may find it helpful to read this article about how to score a 700+ on the GMAT.

Good luck!

Hi patto,

To start, each CAT/mock is really a 'measuring device' - when used correctly, it will give you a realistic score and help define your strengths and weaknesses, but it will NOT help you to fix any of those weaknesses. To raise your scores, you have to learn the necessary Tactics and put in the proper practice and repetitions. The CAT will show you whether your studies are helping you to improve or not. Thus, taking lots of CATs is NOT a 'fix' for the little mistakes that you're making. You ultimately have to work on your Tactics and 'processes' (how you approach questions, your note-taking, NOT doing work "in your head", etc.).

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?

GMAT assassins aren't born, they're made,
Rich

March the 25th is my last chance (for the deferred programs), as I start university on March the 18th. So I won't have time to keep on studying for the GMAT. (I start working on March + university =no time for gmat :/)
So this would be like my last chance for the deferred programs. I would appreciate any help Rich.

1) (the following week) I will be capable of studying 72 hours
But since the 1st of march, 42 each week at least.

Hello ..... frankly speaking the only solution is concentrate and practice. This old wisdom was pass across to my by one very prominent GMATCuber. No brute force or heavy study can help to reduce silly mistakes. I learned in a hard way ?.

Taking more tests is definitely one way to prepare for the pressure of the real exam.

Other than that, what types of silly mistakes are you making? As u1983 pointed out, there is usually no easy way to just stop making silly mistakes. Make sure that you don't mess up when it comes to timing, and read each question carefully (which could affect your timing, so make sure that you practice any new approach in at least a few full-length practice tests before taking the actual exam).

One mistake that I make is that I read teh question and notice that x is integer. I write that down, but as I am about to finish the exercise I forget about the "x=int." I am going to write that down with bigger letters and start reading slowly. Those two little things may help in quant. Another mistake that I make is writing down +2 instead of -2.

But what about Verbal? I get to tired and when I read SCs, sometimes, I don't even notice that there is a parallelism problem or a Dangling modifier. But when I re answer the SC(after the test), I do notice those little sc mistakes and easily answer the question correctly.