<p>I'm losing points on very dumb mistakes that I am making on exams, and these errors are the difference between an A and a B. I'm pretty mad at myself, since I'm not losing points because I didn't study, but losing points because I did study and made these sort of mistakes!</p>
<p>The problem is there is never enough time to go back and check the answers..</p>
<p>Does this happen to anyone else? Any general strategies to combating this?</p>
<p>I’m a Senior and it still happens. I get annoyed because I felt like I knew the material going in, but then I miss ONE section of one question and it probably screwed me over.</p>
<p>I haven’t gotten the exam back, but then again, I don’t really want it back.</p>
<p>My answer is: go with your gut feeling and plan for time to look it over (even if time is tight). Try to finish at least 10 minutes early. When I mess up I usually either change my answer from my initial gut response or don’t look over my work.</p>
<p>When time is very tight, it’s sometimes impossible to finish early and check all the answers. So what I do is I try to be more careful and get all the problems correct on the first try, rather than relying on checking. It may or may not work for you, but that’s just my strategy.</p>
<p>LOL…get used to it. It’s a part of learning, and it builds character.</p>
<p>If a “stupid” mistake makes the difference between an A and a B, then either: a) it wasn’t a stupid mistake, or b) the test was horribly written.</p>
<p>Tests with averages in the 60-70 region are generally good because after the curve, small mistakes get soaked up essentially. With tests averages very high (e.g. 90+), small mistakes are magnified after the test is curved.</p>
<p>If the test average was low, then the mistake wasn’t what you could call “stupid”, unless you made a stupid mistake on every problem.</p>
<p>Yup, it happens – you just have to deal with it. For example, I know, down pat, how to study a function (asymptotes, limits, derivatives, second derivatives, etc.) but I recently screwed up on a quiz because I didn’t accurately draw the slant asymptote (y = x+4 and I had it go through (0,6.5)). You just have to double- and triple-check your work, I guess.</p>
<p>Thanks for those who replied with meaningful responses. Those others users, not so much.</p>
<p>I will take on the strategy of taking my time on each one and try to get it right the first time. It’s definitely a learning process; I get very anxious when time is running out.</p>
<p>unlimitedx, is this an IEOR class?
I made a bunch of stupid mistakes on my 160 exam…</p>
<p>Oh man, I was just waiting for someone to say it “builds character”, blah.</p>
<p>yeesh, the worst mistake i made on an exam was when a multiple choice question has answers that were mislabeled “A B B D” instead of “A B C D” (duh). I knew the answer was C but I still filled in B on the scantron. fortunately, it was a p/np class. =P</p>
<p>you think you make stupid mistakes? ha, tell me about it. I’m probably a lot worse than you in that respect. every semester, always a couple of exams that make me enraged on how I could have carelessly overlooked/screwed up a problem either because I was nervous/careless/TOO careful. Oh believe me, I sometimes end up getting the hardest parts on the exam, and end up screwing up all the parts i had pat down. It’s immmmmensely frustrating, but I think it’s just one of my pesky characteristics.</p>
<p>eg. On a recent CS midterm. Missed the parts that involved only calculations (albeit complicated bit operations) that I had practiced and for sure knew by heart. Why? Concentrated too much on not making arithmetic erros that I forgot an essential step when deciphering the exponent. But on the hardest problems at the end, which actually involved writing programs directly on the exam, I nailed 'em. Most ironic of all was that I was extremely pressed for time near the end. I was rushing like crazy and barely even finished. So the parts I was careful on yielded the least points. Funny how that works.</p>
<p>Yeah. On a difficult exam it’s hard to take care of everything at the same time. If you slow down a little bit to be more careful, time could be an issue. I guess the best we can do is just to focus as much as possible and do our best. Stupid mistakes happen to virtually everyone. Just avoid making too many of them.</p>
<p>phroz3n, it was the 160 exam.</p>
<p>also the e120 exam… my god…</p>
<p>Yeah, making mistakes sucks. Especially when you studied and you know the material. I got knocked down from an A to an A- because I mistakenly wrote vertical in place of virtual on an in-class essay.</p>
<p>Ethyl alcohol…interesting name!</p>