|
 Come exam season, many students spend countless hours doing revision and mock exam papers (and bottles of chicken essence are flying off the shelves  ) With so much effort invested, don't lose precious marks due to careless mistakes, which could see an 'A' turn into a 'B'!
We share with you some tried-&-tested tips from students and teachers on how to avoid these 'mark-traps'.
1. Practise and practise some more. If you have a clear grasp of concepts, you won't need to spend so much time on conceptual multiple choice questions, which will leave you with more time to tackle lengthier problems and difficult questions.
2. Don’t do too many steps at once. Many mistakes in Maths are caused by trying to skip several steps due to shortage of time. For example, this is one scenario where an error often occurs:
3(y + 6) = 24
3y + 6 = 24
3y = 18, therefore y = 6. Wrong
In the above, multiplication was not applied to the ‘6’ in the brackets – a common mistake. One way of avoiding this is to insert a step to remind you to apply the multiplication to all items in the brackets, i.e.
3(y + 6) = 24
(3*y + 3*6) = 24
3y + 18 = 24
3y = 6, there y = 2 Correct 
3. Check your calculations and do a REVERSE-CHECK. Put your answer back into the maths problem or equation to check. Many don’t do this when they are rushed for time, but this is often faster than going through the working again. Based on the previous example above, you can easily do this: Final check - 3(2 + 6) = 24
4. Use the correct units. When working out conversions, even if it looks very simple, check that you convert the necessary figures to the correct units correctly before you proceed to add, subtract etc. Be especially alert when more than one round of conversion is required to arrive at the answer e.g. to convert all to m to cm and then back again, or from l to ml.
5. Manage your time well. Though you need to work fast, you need to be accurate too. Make the most of your problem-solving skills based on the time available. Instead of making careless mistakes in some questions by rushing through them, it is better to complete fewer questions but to do them carefully and correctly.
6. Look for an answer match. If your answer is close to a choice in an multiple-choice question, but not so close that you would get it by rounding off the number, don’t be too quick to select it. Check your working again before you select that answer.
7. Answer the right question. Be careful when reading long questions – don’t rush to interpret them and make sure your answer is what they are looking for. For example, are you asked to describe your observation or explain what you see? Look out for important keywords and underline them.
8. Watch for errors In copying and transfer. In Math, a common careless mistake is due to transfer error when the ‘brain moves faster than the eye and hand’ – this causes students to transfer a number incorrectly or in the wrong sequence. Though it may take longer, one way to reduce such errors is to transfer each digit one at a time, and follow the transferring movement with the eye. Do also be careful when copying over the numbers in a maths question to do the working. To help avoid this, you could highlight or circle the relevant numbers before copying them over.
9. Check for logic. Very often, a good way to double-check is to see if your answer makes sense. If not, double check your problem-solving procedure. However, don’t panic if you think your answer doesn’t make sense. If you are sure of the method you have used, stick with the answer.
10. Keep track of your mistakes. It is a good idea to keep a notepad or clipboard where you keep track of the common mistakes you make – whether in Maths, Science, English etc. For English, this is especially useful if there are some common errors that you have a tendency to repeat e.g. using It instead of It’s, complement instead of compliment or every day instead of everyday.
We hope you find the above tips useful! Don't forget to check these articles as well:
Countdown to PSLE - Get the Results you Want
100% for Maths? Yes you can!
Score in Science - 10 tips for better grades
Telling Tales the A+ Way - Composition-writing Hints
Do you have other tips on how to avoid careless mistakes? Do let us know, we would love to hear from you.
 |
