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Preventing stupid mistakes (1 Viewer)

sinophile

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How can we minimise our stupid mistakes? These things slowly hack away at our exam marks- forgetting something here, not remembering to add the constant there.. Eventually these lost marks build up and give you an exam ranking that you're not worth!

Today, I did four simple derivative questions. Just simple deriving! And yet, it took me FOUR TRIES before I could get them all correct. This sort of thing is repeat through all my subjects. You might even say i'm the stupid mistake king!

So what things can we do to stop this menace? Discuss strategies!
 

dux&src

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lots and lots practise will help in maths..if that's what you are talking about which i take it you are.

And on the night before exams try to have an early night to make sure you are alert for the test...you need to be at your peak in the exam room.

this is all i can think off now..but i'm sure there are many more..
 
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iSplicer

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stupid mistakes are inevitalbe ^^
Yes, but you can minimize that inevitability. Practice, practice, practice. You should be able to differentiate in your sleep. You should daydream about the product rule and you should be thinking about the chain rule while in the toilet.

Didn't they teach you that in PRC?
 

lyounamu

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Stupid mistakes can be avoided if you have more time for the exam...that way you can have time to look at your stupid mistakes over again and fix them.

And if you want to have more time, you have to do the exam quickly but at the same time, accurately. So consistent practice would def help. :D
 

studentcheese

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Recheck the harder questions. Don't recheck by looking through your working out, but do the question all over again, using a lead pencil. Make sure your working out is TIDY.
 

me121

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also if you don't have time to redo the question, or read over it... then when you are doing the question think to yourself are these answers reasonable? eg. should the answer really be negative like my answer is... should the graph really have this many turning points, should it look like this. etc. if you know what you are doing then these little checks should not take long and come to your mind without too much inspection.
 

studentcheese

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+ 1 to the above post

Also, don't stress too much. It only increases your stupid mistakes.
 

sinophile

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I made like 15 stupid mistakes in the last maths text.

...FUCK
 

tku336

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i know that i should recheck my exam to get rid of stupid mistakes, but HOW exactly?

in our half yearly maths paper, i lost 11 marks purely on stupid mistakes. but i'd checked it twice in the hour i had left over, and couldnt find any. how exactly do you check, rather than just look over your working?
 

sinophile

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I too would like the asnwer to the above question.
 

hermand

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i know that i should recheck my exam to get rid of stupid mistakes, but HOW exactly?

in our half yearly maths paper, i lost 11 marks purely on stupid mistakes. but i'd checked it twice in the hour i had left over, and couldnt find any. how exactly do you check, rather than just look over your working?
say, you use algebra to find values [this is a simple example] & you need to use simultaneous equations, sub the values back into all of the equations to check that they make sense in all of them.

just little things, like if you're given little clues to the eventual answer, find them and use them by seeing if they make sense and the answer you've got 'fits'.

i can't think of a better example, but yeah. that's the general gist.
 

LordPc

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I used to make mistakes on simple things, like not expanding properly or changing of a sign or something really simple. so when i would check over things i would do the math for the next line of a question in my head, then i would compare what was in my head to what i had already written down before. if they dont match up then you know there is a mistake and you fix it. if there is no mistake, do the next line and keep going.

pretty much just do the question again in your head, and then compare it to what you gace written down.

also never stop checking if you have time. many times have i overlooked mistakes 3 or 4 times and only noticed the error on the 5th check in the last minute of an exam. never stop

also, whenever i missed a question in an exam, or i did a question and wasnt sure that i had done it right or got the right answer, i would circle the question number on the question sheet. then i would check these questions first when id finished the paper. trivial i know, but it helped so i wouldnt waste time checking things i was already sure i had right.
 

dp624

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Finish fast and check - ie do the paper again, pretty much
 

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