<p>Ever since I started engineering I've lost ~5% of my grade on most tests due to arithmetic mistakes. </p>
<p>I have been prepared for tests so well that I should have easily gotten 100/100, but I never do. I'll set the problems up perfectly, then multiply 3x2 and get 12. I am also terrible at finding these mistakes. Something about my brain is wired to just look right past them when I'm going over my test. There are people who get perfect scores all the time, and I don't get how they do it. </p>
<p>Did you find any way to improve at this? I am CAREFUL. I check my work (as much as I can in the time I have left), but I usually don't find mistakes like these unless I have time to totally rework the problems.</p>
<p>Plug and chug is one of those things that requires a slow and steady attention to detail. One thing I would recommend would be to set up a bunch of practice problems, try to use the same number that are normally on your tests. Then take it with the same time limit, with the same allowable accessories. Usually, for me, making mistakes are the quickest way to remember to never do them again.</p>
<p>One of my strategies… Finish the test, turn it over, take some bubble gum out of your pocket and enjoy it for a couple of minutes. Turn the test back over and check over all the problems. I would put a check mark next to each step as I rechecked the math.</p>
<p>Photonxyz, that’s an interesting technique but a couple of minutes may be crucial. However, maybe a person could start with leaving 5 minutes in between. Then narrow down the time gradually until only a minute or no time at all is needed.</p>
<p>I particularly like the idea of using checkmarks to mark every single step.</p>
<p>You probably should get better at checking your work. This is what I do depending on the time I have left:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>If I finish a test in about half the time, then I’ll probably rework the problems on scrap paper and usually find most of my mistakes</p></li>
<li><p>If I don’t have much time left, try to look at the answer to see if it makes sense… For example, for a differential equations course, differentiate your answer and see if it satisfies the original ODE</p></li>
</ol>
<p>However, despite these methods, the best thing is to do things right the first time, so don’t hurry through the exam just so you have time to check again.</p>
<p>KamelAkbar, that’s it 5 percent? If I were you, I’d be quiet. I once lost 15 points, out of a 30 point question, for a minus sign. I argued with the professor, and since he was a nuclear physicist, he wouldn’t budge. He said “that minus sign can destroy the future of this country”. So yeah, just focus on your arithmetic.</p>
<p>Allow me to give you some context, I had the minus sign everywhere. My answer was right. It’s just when I “boxed” my answer, I dropped the minus sign. Since we have one of the best Physics program on planet earth, these professors don’t play any games. I would’ve been more than happy, had I only lost just 10 percent of the points on that question.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: I’m taking algebra right now, so take this how you will:</p>
<p>I came into my first semester particularly bad at this sort of thing. I had only taken two tests before ever: the GED and a college placement test, both multiple choice. Never had homework graded, never had anyone looking at my work, just me at my kitchen table scratching away at a legal pad. When I checked an answer, and I was off from some stupid little thing like that, I was just happy that I was doing right steps, and blew by it.</p>
<p>This background left me wildly unprepared to take a college math course, and I was on pace to fail the course, despite grasping all the concepts easily. </p>
<p>This is probably not that helpful, and maybe annoying coming from a dropout who is like 10 semesters of math behind even other freshmen, but mostly how I correctly the problem was:</p>
<p>a) Being extremely strict with myself while working problems at home. If miss anything, I redo everything, until I have done it perfectly. I still make more little mistakes than I should, but it’s steadily getting better ever since I began to address it as unacceptable. </p>
<p>b) What photonxyz said, but instead of gum I just lead back and breath deep for 0.5-1.5 minutes, before checking. Sometimes I don’t have time to be that thorough, but I do what I can.</p>
<p>Really the only way to do it is to practice and check your work, two things that I am personally extraordinarily bad at when it comes to test time. Ultimately, losing 5% on your exams is not going to kill you though, and in any other situation, you won’t be pressed for time so you can take your time with it the first time through.</p>
<p>The other thing to note is that if this is a problem on an engineering class where the math represents something physical, you can catch a lot of silly mistakes simply by noting that the solution looks wrong based on physical intuition.</p>
<p>Your profs are just trying to get you ready for the real world. If you make a “dumb mistake” when you’re designing a building, there could be serious consequences! The laws of physics won’t care what a smart person you are! If you make a mistake when you’re figuring out the bending moment in a beam and pick a steel section that’s too light, that’s not good. Engineers have to be particular!</p>
<p>I also say that you need to correct your math errors. You would make a very dangerous engineer if you don’t. The consequences of such errors would be too great for any company to tolerate.</p>
<p>Don’t know what learning style you are but most engineers are visual/spatial learners. As such, you might get a bag of poker chips and lay out 3 groups of 4 to visualize 12, etc. Then go take those elementary speed tests until you get them right.</p>
<p>Really? So if I’m designing a building, I’ll be doing an entire math exam worth of calculations by hand in 90 minutes, and will have no computer model to work with, no peers to review my work, etc? Give me a break.</p>
<p>There are still plenty of ways to make algebra errors when working on computers. Typing in boundary conditions wrong, messing up some formulas when you’re hand-writing them before inputting them into the computer, accidentally hitting / when you meant * on your numpad, etc.</p>
<p>Also, if you expect unlimited time and someone to hold your hand/double check all of your numbers forever then you’re in for a rude awakening. Heck, even if numbers are calculated, checked, and rechecked there’s still a chance for it to get by. You may want to read about this example: [Mars</a> Climate Orbiter - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Climate_Orbiter]Mars”>Mars Climate Orbiter - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Ok, this is a really ridiculous argument. Holy crap.</p>
<p>Making mistakes on a timed test is not the same as making mistakes in the field. If it was, I’d be terrified to set foot in anything any engineer at my (top) engineering school had anything to do with.</p>
<p>Not doing some hand calculations to check you computer models is very dangerous (ie. the garbage in, garbage out thing). And not everything is done with computer models. </p>
<p>Having arithmetic errors in your work and expecting the person checking your work to find them is crazy. </p>
<p>IF you do become a prefessional engineer, could you please publish a list of the projects you work on so I can avoid them!!!</p>