Stupid Mistakes! (2 Viewers)

[frog1944]

Hi,

In maths exams primarily, I am prone to stupid mistakes. All the questions I make these silly mistakes on I can more than easily do! (which is why they're silly mistakes)

How do I remove any of these silly errors?

Thanks

 

[eyeseeyou]

Hi,

In maths exams primarily, I am prone to stupid mistakes. All the questions I make these silly mistakes on I can more than easily do! (which is why they're silly mistakes)

How do I remove any of these silly errors?

Thanks

Look over your work again

Practice heaps of questions all under timed conditions and look over them to see if you have any silly mistakes

 

[Drongoski]

Show us specimens of your "silly mistakes".

 

[frog1944]

In an exam I did n! = n(n+1)(n+2)! (I was fully aware this was not the case, but in the working out of the question I applied that principle).
Recently when solving an inequality with the unknown in the denominator, I multiplied one side by the squared term but didn't do it to the other side e.g. 1/x > 0, 1>x^2 instead of x>x^2. This was particularly silly as I've never made that mistake before, and the day before I was easily solving these.

There is a few more, but these "silly" mistakes inhibit how well I could go in the exams.

 

[pikachu975]

Just do more practice papers but mainly concentrate during the exam properly, when you see a question, say the method out loud inside your head of what you're doing and also check each step as you do it. Also maybe bring a water bottle into the exam so that when you get stuck on a question you can take a sip to refresh and possibly see how to solve it after looking again.

 

[fluffchuck]

What I like to do is do past papers and whenever I make a silly mistake, I write it down on a notepad.

This notepad has been constantly filled since the beginning this year and before an exam I would just memorise the precautions for these mistakes.

E.g. Always state units when doing measurements.

 

[pikachu975]

In an exam I did n! = n(n+1)(n+2)! (I was fully aware this was not the case, but in the working out of the question I applied that principle).
Recently when solving an inequality with the unknown in the denominator, I multiplied one side by the squared term but didn't do it to the other side e.g. 1/x > 0, 1>x^2 instead of x>x^2. This was particularly silly as I've never made that mistake before, and the day before I was easily solving these.

There is a few more, but these "silly" mistakes inhibit how well I could go in the exams.

Well since you can easily solve them the day before maybe you're feeling anxious or stressed during the exam. Try not to stress out right before the exam and probably bring water to refresh once in a while during the test.

Also since you got the n! = .... thing wrong I'd suggest writing out the formulae related to the question so that you don't stuff it up like you did with that factorial.

 

[frog1944]

Ok, thanks everyone. I will do my best to apply your advice , hopefully it'll work!

 

[WildestDreams]

I feel your pain! I happen to go through this too.

Try doing basic questions, and heaps of them. Going over your basics will really help.

 

[hunter22]

Don't get in to the habit of zoning out or going on autopilot while practicing, especially on the easy questions. I found that this is when I made the most silly mistakes. Also, slow down a bit and make sure that each line follows, e.g. you haven't turned a 2 into a 7, or a - into a +. I recognised that I was finishing papers really quickly but I'd lose alot of marks off stupid stuff like this, and its been happening way less since I made an effort to change it.

So my advice is, just slow down and really concentrate on what you're doing.

 

[frog1944]

Ok, thank you!

 

[hassannaveed]

I started off year 11 making A LOT of silly mistakes. There were 2 ways I fixed this. The 1st way is to write bigger, when you write small, the numbers may appear to look like other numbers and especially in timed conditions you dont have time to figure out what you've written. SO WRITE BIG, DON'T WORRY ABOUT HOW MUCH PAPER YOU USE. Secondly, do A LOT of practice UNDER TIMED CONDITIONS. Silly mistakes usually only result when you're doing a question under timed conditions, thus if you have enough experience with this, you will see that you are making less silly mistakes.

 

[DGatez]

I started off year 11 making A LOT of silly mistakes. There were 2 ways I fixed this. The 1st way is to write bigger, when you write small, the numbers may appear to look like other numbers and especially in timed conditions you dont have time to figure out what you've written. SO WRITE BIG, DON'T WORRY ABOUT HOW MUCH PAPER YOU USE. Secondly, do A LOT of practice UNDER TIMED CONDITIONS. Silly mistakes usually only result when you're doing a question under timed conditions, thus if you have enough experience with this, you will see that you are making less silly mistakes.

Your first point is useful if the person has poor handwriting.

Can you prove this claim: Silly mistakes usually only result when you're doing a question under timed conditions? Also, what does 'usually only' mean?

 

[hassannaveed]

Your first point is useful if the person has poor handwriting.

Can you prove this claim: Silly mistakes usually only result when you're doing a question under timed conditions? Also, what does 'usually only' mean?

What I mean in my claim is that if you are doing questions under timed conditions, you will be doing them at a faster pace than if you were doing a textbook exercise. Due to the increased pace, and the added stress and pressure due to the time limit, you are more likely to make silly mistakes. This is also what I meant by "usually only," meaning that silly mistakes usually appear in timed conditions and not under non-timed conditions.