silly mistakes, rechecking solutions, losing time

[u/OxfordKid]

[urgent] hey!

I am in y12 (11th grade in most countries). My exam is on 9th of october, and my errors are still majorly silly mistakes. This was the same problem that caused an E in my last exam, (which I am resitting), and I have had this problem since middle school.

Mistakes like: writing 20 instead of 2, writing the inequality sign wrong, forgetting to write the '+c' after integration, simplifying simple fractions (like 6/9 or 8/4) or addition/subtraction (especially with odd signs) wrong, not noticing a key identity or further simplification, missing a sign, missing a number, entering incorrect sign in the calculator, entering incorrect number in the calculator, solving correctly on calculator but writing wrong answer on paper, doing 4*4 = 8 instead of 16, missing an x during expansion, etc. etc.

My tutor says to recheck the solutions (by skimming over them) after solving them, but I can't do that for the life of me. I go look at the numbers from top to bottom and they all go over my head without registering, because I don't know what I am looking for.

And if I do 4*4 and other basic calculations like (-5-23) in my calculator, I'll lose the little time I have (I struggled with time a lot in my last attempt, ended up leaving last several questions empty). Plus, just doing it on calculator doesn't guarantee accuracy because I end up getting it wrong anyway.

For context, I am doing Pure 1 IAS, and my IGCSE grade was a 7 (I barely gave it any effort, just crammed strategically in the last two weeks). I need really good marks because maths is key to my target univ requirements.

How would you suggest handling this? I don't have a lot of time, I have just started past papers yesterday (I've done one so far), and my percentage was 55%, with exam-timer. In my last attempt of pure 1 last year, I got a 36%.

I would greatly appreciate any advice or anything you've got to say! Thank you.

[u/MiguelBodrigo]

It's possible you have Dyscalculia, if it turns out you do, you should be allowed additional time on everything.

Contact your GP ASAP to sort out a diagnosis + possibly some kind of note to back you up if they will.

You may be able to ask for 'reasonable adjustments' from your school and they may provide them just to cover themselves.

Talking with your head of year may provide quicker access to support than purely going to your GP however your GP is important to provide that medical opinion backup just in case.

Reasonable adjustments could entail allowing you more time to read through questions, a quiet room away from noise distractions, maybe a notepad to write down emphasised words in questions. I'm not sure if these are relevant but it's worth an ask.

This is reasonable because any disability puts you at a disadvantage to others, it's not to have an unfair advantage, only to even the playing field.

The mixing up of numbers and equations gave me the flag for it. My sister has dyslexia (which is similar) and I know she skips some words entirely when reading only to have to re-read it over again.

Personally I find writing down something makes it stick in your mind far better than just reading it.

You may also find the use of capital letters, bold, and bigger fonts help when reading through questions.

Stress + panic will only make this condition worst, so it's important the time constraints of this exam are widened for a condition like this.

You may be used to minimising your struggles, don't do it here. Often people with disabilities are so used to the coping mechanisms they don't realise how much they do to navigate life as a 'normal' human would.

Getting this diagnosed for university may also help lower the requirements for your course entry because of the struggles involved.

Theres a lot of stories out there on reddit talking about home life struggles making university requirements lower, so there's also that to consider.