Hello! So this problem has been lingering for a while (since I started school/testing). I am in 11th grade. My test scores are just bad. I’m not stupid, and usually I know my material very well compared to peers. However, when it comes to tests, I always make silly mistakes. I triple check every time I do a test, but I NEVER catch my mistakes. Making the mistakes is bad enough, not catching them is just idiotic. I have almost never gotten anything wrong on a test because I didn’t understand a concept, or because I memorized something incorrectly: it was always because of the above problem that I would get anything wrong.
I came to this realization during a Calc quiz recently, when I made note to do every question twice. I did, but I still got a 78% on some silly mistakes that I could have fixed. If anyone actually responds to this question, I can post the quiz questions I got wrong, and how it wasn’t even that I memorized the wrong equations: I wrote them correctly, but just applied/copied them down one inch below!??!?!? My mistakes are not minor, and it’s frustrating me. I do fine on the homework and practice though, just on tests :(.
I can’t tell if I’m dumb or not. I feel like catching these small mistakes has something to do with how smart someone is, so I’m not sure if I should continue pursuing my engineering degree interests that I was having, especially since I’m a girl competing which a bunch of guys. I think that these types of mistakes are fatal, to not only school, but to any career. Has anyone had this same problem, and how did you fix it?? Please help. (I’m Asian and I’m disappointing my parents haha)
I FEEL YOU. During physics last year, I repeatedly screwed myself out of getting As on tests because of my ridiculous mistakes. I can’t tell you how many times I simply copied the formula down incorrectly or wasn’t paying attention when plugging numbers in. I don’t really have a solution lol because I still do things like that. On my last Calc quiz, we couldn’t use calculators and I guess I was working to fast so I wrote down that 7 x 3 was 24. Usually doing a test twice, on the scrap paper/answer sheet and on the test paper without looking helps me catch most of my mistakes, but not always.
I’m sure you’re not dumb!! I don’t think being smart and a good test taker are the same thing at all. And same yeah, I’m also Asian and a total disappointment to my parents. I’m not a math/science whiz, not HYPSM material, and my favorite subject is history.
Maybe then it’s a matter of finding a different way of checking your work. Simply reading through the material isn’t normally enough, since everyone is prone to reading what they expect to read. Redoing the problem tends to be the way of catching the mistakes.
In addition, sometimes there’s a second way of doing a problem, and that can help you catch errors. (Not sure of which formulas you’re up to, but I’ll use Trig as an example: the double angle formulas could be checked using the sum formulas. WAY longer that way, but it still gets you there.)
How about, Plan B: you begin each test by rewriting the equation. Simply go from problem to problem, writing the first equation, and then begin the test? I’m not sure what this would accomplish, but breaking the mold of the way you approach the test might somehow make a difference.
And, Asian or not, you guys are NOT disappointments to anyone. Sure, they want you to do well. But they also want you to understand the material, and to get the grades you deserve.
(I’m Asian and I’m disappointing my parents haha)