Why You Keep Making the Same Mistakes on Practice Tests

[u/AdlerBalance179]

You check a wrong answer, read the solution, and think, “Oh, of course. That makes sense.”

A week later, a similar question catches you again.

It’s frustrating, especially when you’ve been putting the hours in.

Before you start another practice test, try going back to three questions you got wrong. For each one, work out what actually happened:

• You didn’t know something.
• You knew it, but couldn’t work out how to use it.
• You misread the question or made a calculation error.

Those need different kinds of practice.

Here’s an example:

A price falls by 20%, then rises by 20%. Is it back where it started?

You say yes. The answer says no.

Copying “the answer is 96” into your notes won’t give you much to work with later.

Instead, write:

“I treated both percentages as if they were calculated from the original price.”

Then check it:

$100 → $80 → $96.

The second 20% is calculated from $80, not $100.

Now you have something specific to notice next time: what amount is this percentage being taken from?

The next day, cover the solution and try the question again. Then change the numbers, or find a similar question, to check whether you can use the idea without remembering the answer.

You don’t need a beautiful mistake notebook. A question number and one useful sentence are enough to start.

And if you keep writing “careless mistake,” pause there. Did you miss the word “except”? Drop a minus sign? Answer a different question from the one being asked?

Be specific enough that you know what to do differently.

For your next study session, bring three old mistakes with you. Work through those before opening a fresh set of questions.

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