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You can attend the first session of any of our online or in-person GRE courses absolutely free. Crazy, right? <\/i><\/b>Check out our upcoming courses here<\/i><\/b><\/a>.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n If you scored a 158 on your GRE Quant, you likely missed around 10-15 of the 40 questions you saw. A few of those may have been ones you didn\u2019t know how to do. A few may have been ones you didn\u2019t have enough time to solve. How many do you think were \u201ccareless GRE math mistakes\u201d? 1 or 2? 5 or 6?<\/span><\/p>\n I hear this come up more than any other issue when I discuss exam results with my students. Careless GRE math mistakes cost points, and fixing only a few of them could result in a large jump in your score. If you scored a 158 and made 6 careless mistakes, fixing them could be the difference between your current score and something more like a 164.<\/span><\/p>\n In this entry, I\u2019ll share 5 ways of combating careless GRE math mistakes.<\/span><\/p>\n I can remember getting a math test back in my 8<\/span>th<\/span> grade algebra class. I wasn\u2019t exactly happy with my grade: it was a solid dip down from the scores I was used to getting. When I flipped through to see which red slashes of my teacher\u2019s pen had cost me so many points, I noticed that my mistakes were mostly missing negative signs, failures to carry a digit in long multiplication, terms left out when I distributed through a set of parentheses. <\/span>Ah, it\u2019s nothing but careless mistakes<\/span><\/i>, I thought. <\/span>No real issue here<\/span><\/i>. I knew how to do all the math, so it wasn\u2019t really a big deal, right?<\/span><\/p>\n This thought might have provided some solace on a grade-school exam\u2014as long as my teacher could see I knew how to do the math, there was no real worry\u2014but it lulled me into thinking there was nothing worth reviewing. On a test like the GRE, the grading algorithm doesn\u2019t know the difference between the slight fumble of a decimal place and a complete lack of understanding of a problem. There is no partial credit. This makes it doubly important to iron out the kinks in the way you do your math.<\/span><\/p>\n More importantly, when you call something \u201ca careless mistake,\u201d it may be tempting to think that the mistake is unimportant and not worth further attention. Often, \u201ccareless GRE math mistakes\u201d mask a deeper sloppiness in one\u2019s math and thinking\u2014the kind of sloppiness that makes one susceptible to the tricks and traps set throughout the GRE. The first step toward combatting \u201ccareless GRE math mistakes\u201d is to take them seriously.<\/span><\/p>\n And if you want to take them really seriously, try setting up an error log. One of the most tried-and-true weapons for combatting careless GRE math mistakes, error logs collect short anecdotes and takeaways from missed problems in a central location. An error log might look something like this:<\/span><\/p>\n I did one of these in my own GRE practice. I missed so many practice problems in the final few steps because I would \u201cmove something over\u201d from one side of the equation to the other. I theoretically knew how to do the math, but I needed to direct a little more awareness to \u201cadding something to both sides.\u201d It would have been easy to write this off as a careless mistake and forget about it, but instead I noticed the trigger: solving simple algebraic equations like \u201cx + 3 = 16\u201d without writing the \u201c-3\u201d under each side of the equation. (Check out\u00a0<\/span>this article from Chelsey Cooley<\/span><\/a> for more on tackling this particular type of careless mistake.) Being aware is half the battle. If you can train yourself to spot your mistake triggers, you can slow down, become more aware, and address them the way you know you should.<\/span><\/p>\n Try this problem. Seriously. Think about it and come up with an answer before you read any further:<\/span><\/p>\n Now test your answer.<\/span><\/p>\n If you take the price of the ball (your answer) and add a dollar to it, you should get the price of a bat. Now add those two prices together. Do you have $1.10 spent in total? If you notice something funny about your answer, try to go back and fix it. <\/span><\/p>\n With a modicum of additional mental energy, you can run your answer back through each part of the problem, locate careless GRE math mistakes, and fix them. Make a habit of doing this\u2014whether the problem is easy or hard, lengthy or short. It\u2019s well worth the additional 5-10 second investment to make sure you\u2019re getting the points for your work. And if you\u2019ve already spent the time to solve the problem, it\u2019s worth a little extra to make sure you\u2019ve got it.<\/span><\/p>\n Don\u2019t start thinking you don\u2019t need to check your work, either, even if you had this one right to begin with. If you build a habit of <\/span>always<\/b> checking your work, you\u2019ll remember to do so (and you\u2019ll really save yourself) on a butt-kicker of a problem like this one:<\/span><\/p>\n As the name implies, \u201ccareless GRE math mistakes\u201d result from a lack of sufficient <\/span>care<\/span><\/i> placed on the math at hand.<\/span><\/p>\n One of the most common answers to the bat-and-ball question above is 10 cents. It\u2019s easy to jump straight there without putting pen to paper. This is an answer you\u2019d get if you started piecing together an attractive answer before ever drawing out the relationships between your variables. If you test it out, you\u2019ll find that a 10 cent ball and a $1.10 bat add up to $1.20. It doesn\u2019t work. This question is discussed at length in Daniel Kahneman\u2019s book <\/span>Thinking Fast and Slow<\/span><\/i><\/a>. When students at top schools like Harvard, Princeton, and MIT tried that same question as part of a psychological study, more than half of them got it wrong. You\u2019ll learn way more about why this occurs if you read Kahneman\u2019s book, but to ruthlessly summarize: human beings tend to think with two \u201cbrains\u201d\u2014one \u201cbrain\u201d that wildly leaps ahead and makes connections and another \u201cbrain\u201d that trudges along carefully, skeptically proving its answers. One of the keys to success on a test like the GRE is learning to activate that second way of thinking\u2014the one that carefully puts pen to paper and tests its own work. If you can be present with the step you\u2019re on rather than leaping toward answers that \u201cseem\u201d right, you\u2019ll iron out a boatload of careless GRE math mistakes.<\/span><\/p>\n All of this is, of course, easier said than done. If you want to work on this element, it may be worth your time to focus on mindfulness: the practice of being fully present rather than letting your mind wander off. Aside from slowing down, deep breathing, and double-checking your work, you may consider trying an app like <\/span>Headspace<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n In my classes, I\u2019ve noticed two major branches of arithmetic mistakes that my students make: mental math errors and calculator errors. These tend to occur when test-takers over-rely on one way of doing the math because they\u2019re uncomfortable with the other. If you don\u2019t feel confident with your mental math, you can get much better with practice. Try using a website like <\/span>Mental Math Trainer<\/span><\/a>. There are some great apps for working on mental math, like <\/span>this one for Android<\/span><\/a>. You can also check out <\/span>this series<\/span><\/a> by our very own Neil Thornton.<\/span><\/p>\n These apps and games give you practice questions like these with ~10 seconds to solve each one:<\/span><\/p>\n If you can learn how to do these in your head, you\u2019ll be much better at using your calculator\u2014you\u2019ll know when you\u2019ve cranked out an answer that makes no sense.<\/span><\/p>\n Likewise, even if you can do these quickly and easily in your head, you\u2019ll likely benefit from writing out at least some of your math on paper and checking at least some of your steps on the calculator.<\/span><\/p>\n When you use both methods in tandem, you\u2019re much more likely to self-correct before things get really bad. As we all know, one little mistake can lead to a whole slew of troubles later on.<\/span><\/p>\n
\nCareless GRE Math Mistakes Cost Points<\/b><\/h4>\n
I. Stop Writing Them Off as \u201cCareless GRE Math Mistakes\u201d (and Make an Error Log)<\/b><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nII. Check Your Work<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nIII. Focus on the Step You\u2019re On, Not the Next One or the One Before<\/b><\/h4>\n
IV. Mental Math is Dangerous, But Calculators Are Dangerous Too<\/b><\/h4>\n
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