How to avoid mistakes under time pressure.

[jp.jprasanna]

Hi Stacey

I recently took the Manhattan CATs. Below are my test scores..

CAT 1 - 720
CAT 2 - 710
CAT 3 - 690
CAT 4 - 650

After reviewing the test scores, mistakes that I could deduce are the following...

1/ Under time pressure , especially with the exam soon approaching , I made lots of silly mistakes both in Q and V, such as, when questions asks for ratio of boys to girls , even though I did the problem correctly, I wrongly selected ratio of G:B, forgetting to do -1 in the last by 1 step of a probability and the like

2/I think I developed some kinda frenzy (fear of getting the question wrong ?) during the last 2 (690,650) exam (may be I was more relaxed on the first two as the exam was quite far away), inhibiting my ability to think holistically, and to recall similar problems that i have done during my practice sessions. For instance the 1st geomentry question in one of the mock, I took 4 mins and got it wrong, but when I did the same problem next day I could get it right in 30 seconds!!!!! (ridiculous right!?)

When I did all the exam questions un timed , relaxed conditions, I could get almost everything right. Had I got the same questions right in the mock exam I would have definitely got 720+.

3/ Calculation mistakes. When reviewing the work on my note pad for the problems that I got wrong, I realized I had chosen the correct method, correct numbers for substitution etc but I did the calculation wrong. In a problem, I had made simple multiplication and division mistakes.

4/ On verbal , in sc,cr,rc, I had blown past some of the key details where I suppose to stop and pay attention to. Again un-timed , non-exam condition I was able to see through the problem

5/ Having reached these conclusions, I consciously tried to avoid these mistakes during my practice sessions by re-reading the questions at least twice, re-checking my calculations, reading the part of the SC,CR over and over again. But then again I ended up spending too much time, >2 mins or more than the allocated time per questions. If I were to do so in the real exam , I am sure I wont be able to complete the exam on time.

Hence could you advise on the right strategy to follow to avoid these mistakes and over come tension during the exam.


Cheers
_____________________________
give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime

[StaceyKoprince]

lots of silly mistakes both in Q and V, such as, when questions asks for ratio of boys to girls , even though I did the problem correctly, I wrongly selected ratio of G:B, forgetting to do -1 in the last by 1 step of a probability and the like

You've got the first step, which is identifying what kind of silly mistakes you made. The two you mentioned both had to do with solving for the wrong thing, so here's a suggestion: before you start doing the math, skip a few lines, write down what you're solving for, and put a big circle around it. Then go back up, do the work, and you'll run into your "B:G = _____?" circle when you're done. You've basically set up a reminder for yourself: I'm solving for B:G. Same thing for the x-1 thing - if you actually write X - 1 = _____? with a big circle around it, and then you "run into" that line when you're done with the work, you'll be less likely to forget the last step.

All of this illustrates the basic principal behind trying to minimize careless mistakes: figure out WHAT mistake you made, WHY you made it, and what bad habit(s) to break and what good habit(s) to make to minimize the chances of repeating that specific type of error in future.

I think I developed some kinda frenzy (fear of getting the question wrong ?) during the last 2

Okay, you felt some anxiety. That was good practice, actually, because you're going to feel similar anxiety on the real test - you'll know that it'll actually count this time, which heightens anxiety.

You can't get rid of the anxiety completely. What can you do to learn to perform well under the stress? Again, figure out specifically how this is affecting you and deal with that accordingly. You mention that the stress seems to cause you to hang on to certain questions way too long and then that messes up your timing and causes your score to drop.

First, you can tell yourself: when I spend 3+ minutes on a quant question, that right there is an indication that something is wrong and I should cut myself off (because there is a 2-minute, or faster, solution for every quant problem).

It doesn't matter whether I "should" be able to do this one. Right now, in the moment, I'm forgetting something or messing something up, so all I can do is cut myself off and get it wrong more quickly or get it wrong more slowly. Given those two choices, I know which one I want. :)

You ARE going to make some careless mistakes on the real thing - it's a long test and we're human. You ARE going to see a few for which you KNOW (or think you know) that you COULD do this... but it's just not happening right now. Don't be stubborn. You are going to get a lot of questions wrong, even things that you normally know how to do; that's just how the test works. You're going to try to learn to minimize these things, of course, but don't expect to get rid of them completely.

http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... to-win-it/

For your #3, see my reply to your #1 above - these are also careless errors.

For #4, why do you think you blew past some of those key details? Were you feeling timing pressure - like you had to work more quickly? Was that because you really were spending too much time on other questions? Or were you just starting to get tired and not being as careful as usual?

If your time management was messed up:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... nt-part-1/

If it was more that you were beginning to get mentally fatigued:
http://www.manhattangmat.com/blog/index ... you-crazy/

Finally, in terms of re-reading something or checking your work, as you discovered, you can't do this on every question or you'll run out of time. We all have patterns though - so if you know specifically where / why you tend to make mistakes, then you learn to re-read or check your work ONLY on those things, not on everything.

[abhitechie]

You will improve a lot by simple practicing a number of problems as you improve your timing and will have more time read a problem and plan an approach.

[StaceyKoprince]

thanks, abhitechie!

[PranavG776]

Hi there!

I am facing similar problems as mentioned by jp.jprasanna . Some details:

1. Lot of silly mistakes in quant in question onward 15 . I am getting a good start as i am very cautious is first 10 questions. This leads to a situation where i am behind the average time and then i start rushing, which leads to silly mistakes.
I agree going slow can make things work but i cannot afford to go slow at that time as i am already falling behind.

2. In verbal, i miss basic points while solving SC (e.g: pronoun should make sense with noun). In CR as well, because the clock is ticking, i am not able to comprehend the argument in the first read, as a result i am again lagging behind of the average time. This builds additional pressure to quickly solve the remaining questions.

In both sections, I get most of the incorrect questions right when i re-attempt them, and i think how could i miss these details/calculations while taking the test!

Strategy i will follow after reading several articles / blogs:

For quant
- Neatly write down calculations and goal
- Double check in case of even a slight doubt on answer
- Leave the question in case not able to decipher the solution i a minute and a half or in case question is from my weak area

For verbal i need help! Please advise how should i go about it.

Much thanks!
Pranav

[StaceyKoprince]

Actually, verbal is similar. You need to let some questions go so that, on the remaining questions, you can work without so much time pressure.

What are the hard ones for you on verbal? This can be harder to define than for quant; it might be things like:
- full-underline SCs
- SCs where you don't have a good understanding of the meaning of the sentence
- certain sub-types of CR (eg, boldface—lots of people dislike those!)
- alternatively, certain types of topics in CR or RC (eg, lots of people dislike science-y / technical topics)

If you get a hard RC passage, try to find the main idea still. And try to decide which parts of the passage aren't so bad. When you get a question that's about the hard sentences / paragraphs, guess and move on. You can still try the main idea question and any detail questions that are about the parts that weren't so bad.

Most people should guess / bail very quickly on approximately 6 questions per section (could be 5 or 7; it's a little flexible). Decide before you go in what you hate (me: combinatorics, 3D geometry, and bolface CR, among other things!) and when you see you have one of those, just guess your favorite letter and move on.

If you are going for a 48+ on quant or a 40+ on verbal, then plan to do this on 4 questions instead of 6. (But note that, even if you are going for a very top score of 51Q or 45V, you can and should still do this on 4 questions!! I have had multiple students do this and still get a top score. That's how the test works. Nobody should be doing them all!)

Note that Verbal can be even more problematic because it is later in the test, so you are more mentally fatigued. That can make it harder to concentrate and lead to even more careless errors. This is why it's so important to make sure that you're guessing quickly on the hardest (for you) IR and Quant questions. Save that mental energy for the verbal section.

And if you find yourself stressed out enough during the test that it's difficult to concentrate, especially as the test goes on, do try the mindfulness exercise that I linked in my earlier post.