Quant silly mistakes and Organization Troubles

Question

Hi all,

I am finding that I am making more than a few careless mistakes as I go through my GMAT Quant practice. I do not believe I have a content gap, as I often can get the harder problems correct. However, I have been making costly "silly" errors on easy, intermediate, and hard problems. As a result, I cannot seem to break 44 on Quant. I think most of these errors stem from my lack of organization, as my work is frequently quite messy.

Does anyone have any strategies that they have used to improve quant organizational skills, especially on DS problems?

Thanks in advance for your help.

akela · Answer

hi norovers , Here are good posts on careless mistakes: https://gmatclub.com/forum/careless-mis ... 00071.html https://gmatclub.com/forum/tips-on-timi ... 83839.html https://www.manhattanprep.com/gmat/blog ... -the-gmat/ Also, keep an error log to analyze your mistakes. More here: https://gmatclub.com/forum/the-error-log-129501.html Do you use AD/BCE strategy for DS questions? Hope this helps!

norovers · Answer

Thank you for sharing.

Yes, I use the AD/BCE strategy for DS. My careless errors do not stem from accidentally choosing the wrong answer. Usually, they stem from missing crucial words in the prompt such as "positive/negative integers" and my lack of thoroughness/organization when I test cases on DS problems.

akela · Answer

I see. It is crucial to read VERY carefully the question stems. Do not start calculating unless you understand the question. It is a very common GMAT trap - to mislead the test takers who inattentive.

bb · Answer

I would slow myself down before solving each quant question. Also, after about 20 quant questions I would have to pause for 2-3 secs between questions to purge and clear my mind. Otherwise the questions would bleed over.

You basically have to take an objective view and see what you can do to fix it. Diff things work for diff people.

Posted from my mobile device

souvonik2k · Answer

Hi
First and foremost step to avoid silly mistakes is to organize your work. Write all the information the question tells you in the pad and then start your work. This is especially important for DS because in DS you don't have a safety net. If you make a slight error, it will cost you important points.

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