how to stop careless mistakes?

<p>Hey guys! I just took another practice test and used another strategy. Whenever I thought I might make a stupid mistake, I starred the question. I also double and triple checked my answers right after I answered the question. I attempted to answer the question in a “different” way. I still ended up with close to 18 minutes even when I slowed down. After I finished with my spare time, I went back to those questions I starred. I then went over the WHOLE test! I still finished the test on time and made NO mistakes. I finally scored a perfect score. Hopefully I can have this success with future tests! Good luck to those that needed help with eliminating stupid mistakes! Thanks for all of the helpful advice!!</p>

It’s hilarious to read posters thinking their ACT test scores reflect their true math abilities or skills. Hate to tell you but it has more to do with how well and how much you studied for ACT math test. I absolutely believe people who are talented in math – for example, kids who do well in math competitions – can and do finish ACT math with 20 minutes remaining. And yes, it’s not unusual for math talented people to make easy mistakes in math because they misread questions.

To give you an example, my friend who is really talented in math, and I who is just competent in math both took SAT. We both got 800 in math, so I said to my friend “Even though I am worse than you in math, we both got perfect scores in math, so there!” And he quickly put me in my place by saying “The difference between you and me is I finished the math section in 15 minutes, checked my answers twice to make sure and still had 10 minutes left over, while you barely finished math section. Furthermore, had the math section been harder, I would still have gotten 800 whereas you would not have.”

The thread you resurrected is only 4 years old.

Ha, ha. My bad. But I wanted to emphasize that one should not take ACT scores as a proof that they are talented in math, science or English.

Haha actually thanks for bumping the thread I am in a similar position as raza and I needed to see it.