Anyone have recommendations on how to min. careless errors?

Question

Hello, I am taking my 5th MGMAT practice exam this weekend. As I review the questions in the OG and QR, I find myself making many careless mistakes on Quant questions. Even on more difficult problems where I have the correct setup, I find myself making really careless mistakes (arithmetic and some basic fundamentals) causing confusion when looking at the answer choices. I then have to guess to keep my timing on track leading to a wrong answer. Does anyone have any good drills or recommendations to cut down on these mistakes? Thanks!

jumsumtak · Answer

Following simple things worked for me:
1.) Revising my mistake log periodically. I used to do this very often. 
2.) Doing calculations neatly and not making a mess on the rough sheet. Writing bigger also helped.
3.) Telling myself what I won't do just before I sat to take a quant section.

windofchange · Answer

The articles on MGMAT blog may be helpful to minimize careless errors https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... #more-4799 and https://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... #more-1944

arun@crackverbal · Answer

Always commit to paper. Don't try to do mental maths. It is always easier to put the formula on paper and do substitution. I assume (from your post) that you are doing this to some extent. Jumsumtak has the right idea i.e make sure you calculations are clear - that should definitely save you a lot of rework.

Here are 3 more things you want to consider:

1. Can you go back to the sheets you used for the rough work in your practice? Do you see patterns there? I have heard many students tell me how they end up making similar mistakes i.e. 20% of 100 = 4. This could be a useful thing for you to keep in mind.

2. Do you get flustered because of lack of time and commit the silly errors or is it vice-versa? If it is the former then guess randomly on atleast 1 question i.e. blind guess to save you 2 minutes. It is better to do it this way then make give yourself 30seconds less on 4 questions! If it is the latter then what Jumsumtak says holds true.

3. Try to incorporate other techniques such as backsolving (from the answer) or plugging values or guesstimation. If you are not using these techniques effectively then you are perhaps not solving the questions the way you are supposed to on the GMAT.

Hope this helps,

Arun

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Anyone have recommendations on how to min. careless errors?

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