bp2013 wrote:
What dialogue do you go through in your head to ensure you aren't leaving out details? Do you have a set process that you walk through to make sure you aren't leaving out anything?
I'm finding that I can get down the overall concept of quant problems, but often leave out a crucial detail at the end.
A couple examples:
-Solving for x, but the question was asking for x/2
-Solving a complex geometry problem, but forgetting a detail and end up solving for twice the amount they are looking for because I didn't visualize properly (maybe i visualized a circle instead of a sphere)
If silly mistakes are hurting your score, then it's important that you
identify and categorize these mistakes. Some examples might include:
- sloppy writing causes a 7 to mysteriously turn into a 1
- you forget that a question is an EXCEPT question.
- you fail to notice crucial information such as
x is an integer or
w < 0.
- you calculate Pat’s
current age when the question asked for the Pat’s age
5 years from now.
- and so on
Once you have identified the types of mistakes that YOU typically make, you'll be able to spot situations/questions in which you're prone to making errors in which case you can be extra diligent.
That said, many students (including me) benefit from a strategy of reading the question, determining the answer, then
re-reading the question to ensure it was interpreted correctly the first time, and then submitting a response. It's time consuming, but helps fend off silly mistakes.
I write about this and other strategies in the following article:
https://www.gmatprepnow.com/articles/avo ... teaks-gmat Cheers,
Brent