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Last Updated on April 20, 2023
From time to time, I will work with a student who knows the material tested on the GRE well yet continues to answer questions incorrectly. An analysis of the errors often reveals that he either made a silly mistake or put himself through a quagmire of tortured calculations that led to an incorrect answer.
In my eyes, careless errors are the worst mistakes a student can make for two big reasons: First, it’s a shame not to get credit for a GRE question that you know how to solve and should answer correctly. Second, careless mistakes are usually avoidable. They can be drastically reduced or even eliminated with focus, proper strategy, and practice.
Careless errors are the worst mistakes a student can make.
In general, humans probably are becoming more careless at a time when accuracy is of greatest importance. This increasing slackening is happening for a number of reasons. The good news is that each reason comes with a solid solution.
In this article, I’ll review common reasons for committing mindless mistakes on the GRE and the steps you can take to avoid them.
- Problem: You’re not reading carefully
- Problem: Your writing is messy
- Problem: You make errors in basic arithmetic
- Problem: You choose answers with the wrong units
- Problem: You fall for “except” problems
- Problem: You answer the wrong question
- Problem: You miss restrictive information provided in the stem
- Problem: You make mental math mistakes
- Problem: You repeat the same mistakes
- Problem: You’re too technology focused
- Problem: You’re rushing
- Problem: You’re not present
- Problem: You’re overtired, overworked or both
Problem: You’re not reading carefully
Solution: Become a careful, active, and engaged reader
Strong reading skills will help you significantly on all sections of the GRE — yes, including the Quantitative sections. Strive to read everything carefully and methodically. Focus when you read. Make sure that you understand the main point of each sentence and the key concepts in each problem. It’s not unusual to need to reread math and verbal questions. If you don’t fully understand what you just read, read it again. While rereading may seem to take up valuable GRE time, it makes more sense than not understanding and getting all of the related questions wrong.
If you don’t fully understand what you just read, read it again.
Visualization can help you to read more carefully. When you read, imagine that what you are reading is unfolding as if you were watching a movie. Picture what you read. This visualization process will help your brain better assimilate and connect the information.
Problem: Your writing is messy
Solution: Write neatly and legibly
It’s easy to make reckless mistakes when your own writing is illegible. For example, if your numeral 2 has a funny habit of morphing into the letter Z, you’re likely to make mistakes. As someone with shockingly poor handwriting, I’ve found that writing in capital letters makes me less prone to misreading my own handwriting. You may like this penmanship strategy as well.
In addition to writing neatly, it’s important to organize your work thoughtfully. Get in the habit of using well-defined regions of the scratch paper for each problem. Don’t spread your work across the page haphazardly.
In regard to scratch paper: At your GRE testing site, test administrators will provide you with an initial supply of scratch paper. During the test, make efficient use of each sheet. You can obtain additional scratch paper, but you will waste valuable test time while you’re getting the re-supply.
TTP PRO TIP:
Use your scratch paper efficiently during the exam. Obtaining an additional supply can disrupt your thinking and waste valuable time.
Problem: You make errors in basic arithmetic
Solution: Regularly practice multiplication and division by hand
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen students elegantly power through a tough math problem, only to make a multiplication or division error. Don’t be this person. Each day, solve one or two ugly multiplication and division problems by hand. Don’t think that the online GRE calculator absolves you of the need to do routine arithmetic; it is unwieldy and time-consuming to use. You are also just as likely to make a mistake punching in numbers as you are writing them out longhand. But if you practice longhand frequently, you become more familiar with relationships among numbers and what reasonable answers look like. Therefore, you are more likely to catch your own mistakes than you would be if you just mindlessly entered calculations into a calculator and didn’t have to think about what you were doing. Save the calculator for difficult calculations that you can’t do with pen and paper.
TTP PRO TIP:
Know your multiplication and division facts. Practice until they are second nature.
Problem: You choose answers with the wrong units
Solution: Watch out for unit conversions
Many GRE quant problems contain unit conversions. For example, a rate may be presented in miles per hour, but the answers are given in miles per minute. Look out for unit conversions in GRE quant problems. It’s easy to choose an incorrect answer with incorrect units, simply because the number looks correct.
Problem: You fall for “except” problems
Solution: Watch out for “except” problems
Some problems read, for example, “n is divisible by all of the following, except…” Pay close attention to the specific language given in the problem. It stinks to do all the work properly, only to forget that the question was asking for “all of the following, except…”
Another great strategy on these questions is to write down A through E on your scratch paper and give each one that does fit the criteria a checkmark and the one that doesn’t fit the criteria an X. Then you have a visual reminder to pick the odd man out. Your work might look like this:
n is divisible by all of the following, except
A. ✔
B. X
C. ✔
D. ✔
E. ✔
TTP PRO TIP:
Use the “odd man out” strategy to answer “except” questions.
Problem: You answer the wrong question
Solution: Double check whether you’re answering the question, before you select an answer
Read carefully and double check what you’ve read, before choosing an answer. Imagine a complicated word problem involving two Shiba Inus, Blaze and Molly. What if you carefully and elegantly solve for Molly’s age, which, not coincidentally, is also an answer choice, but the question is actually asking for Blaze’s age? Assure you’re actually answering the question being asked.
The GRE also presents “select all that apply” questions, in which you are to choose one or more of the answer choices. Make note that this type of question might have multiple correct answers, and that you have to check each answer choice before moving to the next question. The GRE reminds you of a “select all that apply” question by putting square boxes (instead of ovals) in front of each answer choice.
KEY FACT:
The GRE puts ovals in front of answer choices when only one answer is to be chosen. Square boxes in front of the answer choices indicate that the question might have multiple correct answers.
Problem: You miss restrictive information provided in the stem
Solution: Pay careful attention to restrictive information in the question stem
Quite often, particularly on quantitative comparison questions, restrictive information is provided in the stem. For example, we may be told that “k is an integer” or “0 < m < 1.” Pay close attention to such information. In the heat of solving a problem, it’s easy to forget about a small, but important, piece of information that might change the outcome. Sometimes, writing this information down can help it stick in your mind.
Problem: You make mental math mistakes
Solution: Don’t perform calculations in your head
Performing mental math is a surefire way to make a mistake. Typically, calculating in your head is a bad move. Instead, do as much work as you can on paper.
Problem: You repeat the same mistakes
Solution: Log your mistakes, and work on them
Each time you make a mistake, add a hash mark in your mistake log. The goal of tallying your mistakes is to become fully aware of them and, most importantly, avoid them in the future. For example, if you consistently make careless mistakes on “except” problems, be aware of that fact. The word “except” should set off alarms to be extra careful.
Problem: You’re too technology focused
Solution: Use your brain
Most of you readers are in your 20s and 30s. Many in this age group, myself included, have become overly reliant on technology. For most of us, this dependence began in high school. In math and science courses, we used graphing calculators that did everything but brush our teeth. We became masters at pushing buttons but hopelessly unskilled at solving problems in our heads or with pencil and paper. In college, spreadsheets became our best friend. Whether you were a physics major or a finance major, programs existed to do your work for you. We mastered keystrokes and shortcuts, but our reasoning and analytical skills further deteriorated.
Finally, we became working professionals, so dependent on the smartphone that we were afraid to calculate a restaurant tip without it. All the while, word processing programs enabled us to avoid considering our grammar and spelling altogether. Those squiggly red lines alerted us that, for example, we had written “their,” rather than “they’re.” Ouch! We’re not even close to using our brains to the degree we could.
The good news is that if this reliance on technology has been a culprit in your diminishing cognitive skills, the solution is easy. Stop using technology for everyday things that can be solved in your head!
Stop using technology for everyday things that can be solved in your head!
At dinner, don’t use your smartphone to calculate the tip. Learn how to do this fifth grade math or, at least, apply simple rules for estimating. At a shop, reckon a 20 percent off sale price in your head. You’ll be amazed by how easy these calculations become after a little practice.
Don’t rely on your word processing software to catch and fix your myriad grammar mistakes. Instead, learn the correct rules, and then carefully edit your work. The GRE Analytical Writing essay screen provides only a simple word processor, with no spell check, no grammar check, and no word count. The only available functions are highlight, cut, delete, and paste. Your knowledge of spelling and grammar is critical!
When you’re cooking your significant other a gourmet meal, don’t use the internet to convert ounces to grams or to calculate one-half of three-fourths of a cup. Learn to do this in your head.
Stop relying on search engines as your proxy memory. Instead, ingrain key facts into your memory, such as the formula for the area of a circle or the volume of solid. Remember, there is no formula sheet provided on test day.
When someone gives you a telephone number, try remembering it without typing it into your phone. Later in the day, transfer the number to your contacts. With a little practice, you can remember a 10-digit number accurately.
Know your multiplication tables! If necessary, buy a pack of multiplication flashcards, and review the entire deck. Once you can do it effortlessly, with 100 percent accuracy, go over it again.
Get out of the habit of using your calculator for doing routine arithmetic when you are doing practice GRE math questions. The online calculator provided on test day takes too much time and effort for simple arithmetic. Force yourself to learn to complete the problems accurately by hand, with minimal dependence on the calculator.
As a rule, use your brain. Train it each day to become better at the simple stuff. The more you rely on yourself, rather than the limited tools available to you on test day, the more accurate and efficient you’ll become.
As a rule, use your brain.
TTP PRO TIP:
Starting now, do math your head as often as you can. Stop relying on spell check or grammar check software to correct your writing.
Problem: You’re rushing
Solution: Slow down
Time is a luxury that most GRE test takers don’t have. Between submitting to a demanding job or going to school, working on applications, volunteering, and spending time with family, your week can disappear in a flash.
Unfortunately, these constraints can cause students to rush through their GRE studying, just to log some studying time. This rushing results in careless mistakes. When you try to calculate faster than your brain can process, you will undoubtedly make mistakes.
To greatly reduce careless errors, go slowly. Take your time. Focus. It makes little sense to spend an hour rushing through 20 questions, only to get 10 of them wrong. Instead, work at the fastest pace you can, while approaching the problems effectively. Focus carefully on each problem. Remember, the goal is to learn and understand, not to race through a bunch of problems.
TTP PRO TIP:
Recall the phrase “slow is smooth, and smooth is fast” in your GRE studying.
Problem: You’re not present
Solution: Be grounded in the moment: compartmentalize
It’s imperative that you be alert and focused when attempting to solve a GRE problem. Two types of behavior can retard student accuracy.
The first is distraction. Sometimes, a student’s mind is clearly someplace other than on her GRE practice. Perhaps she had a bad day at work, or a big presentation is on the horizon. It’s easy to lose focus, but real learning requires developing the skill of compartmentalizing. To compartmentalize is simply to stop yourself from thinking about anything before, or worrying about anything to come after, the present moment. Compartmentalization allows your full devotion to the task at hand. When you allow full immersion in whatever you are doing that moment, your accuracy will increase.
Second is a lack of focus. Some students are focused intently on their GRE practice. However, their pens are not in sync with their brains. A student, for example, may be writing a given line of a solution to a problem, while his mind is already visualizing the next step in the problem. It would be great to always be three steps ahead, while simultaneously completing the step you’re on successfully, but that’s just not practical for most students. It’s difficult to be accurate, if the pen and brain are out of sync.
The way to fix this problem is to focus intensely only on your current step. In fact, watch carefully as you write. Focus on each letter, number, and variable. Extreme focus as you write gives your brain the opportunity to catch simple, yet score-eroding, errors. If you’re thinking one or two steps ahead, you’re bound to make mistakes while completing the task at hand. Keep your pen, eyes, and brain in sync at all times.
Extreme focus as you write gives your brain the opportunity to catch simple, yet score-eroding, errors.
Problem: You’re overtired, overworked or both
Solution: Reprioritize
Sloppy calculations and decreased accuracy can occur from lack of sleep or an overworked mind. As mentioned earlier, with the busy lives we live, studying for the GRE can sometimes take a back seat to other tasks. For example, how accurate can you be after getting four hours of sleep, running five miles, working 10 hours, and then sitting down at 9 p.m. for GRE study?
The importance of restful sleep cannot be overstated. If you’re too tired to study, consider getting more sleep. Not only is adequate sleep instrumental in maintaining good health, but also it’s vital for learning. If you want to maximize GRE study time and reduce careless errors, study and practice when you are well rested. If you can’t seem to get enough sleep, you may need to reprioritize your time.
The importance of restful sleep cannot be overstated.
If you’re overworked when study time comes around, consider changing your schedule. Some of my busiest students have found success in studying for two hours each weekday morning before work, allowing them to make GRE focus a priority. Of course, this can force an earlier bedtime. Also, use your weekend time to do some serious studying. Get up on Saturday, go for a run or do some yoga, and eat a healthy breakfast. Then, devote three or four hours to GRE prep when you are fresh.
Don’t let careless errors hold you back from a good GRE score — or better yet, a great one. Implement these simple tips, and watch your accuracy increase.
