Suggestions for avoiding "silly" mistakes?

[mersirena]

Hey all!

I'm taking the MCAT this upcoming January and have taken 4 practice exams so far (mostly EK). The frustrating thing is that when I'm going over the exams, maybe 70% of my wrong answers seem to be a result of negligence - like not realizing the question is asking for what's NOT true, misreading something as resistance when it's supposed to be resistivity, somehow reading a question as the opposite of what it's asking, etc. I might be going too fast (I finish almost all the sections with 30 min to spare), but does anyone have any suggestions for not overlooking key details?

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[Necr0sis713]

I know how you feel. These are the mistakes that I tend to make A LOT because I get over confident, know the answer in my head as soon as I read the question, but I choose the wrong answer because I skimmed it and my brain read the wording wrong. lol...Reminds me of during my last practice test, my dumb ass chose an answer where "high pH (basic conditions) meant high H+"...it was the ultimate ego killer reviewing, I felt like such a dumb ass.

My advice is to try to make a habit of...caressing every word so to speak. Like..you know when you sing a really catchy melody, how it just rolls off your tounge and you enjoy articulating every syllable and vowel, and feels like your caressing the words? Do that but with your mind, or that voice that reads in your head.

Also, for questions like "which is wrong" or "what is not" keep reminding yourself and telling yourself in your head "Ok, this IS right, this IS RIGHT TOO, this one is WRONG....I'm looking for WRONG RIGHT?" then go back and make sure you're doing things right.

The TBR chem book has the greatest piece of advice too: Write T and F next to the answers. When I read that it was like the ultimate moment of enlightenment, lol.

 

[Rousey]

If you finish every section with that much time to spare, then definitely slow down a bit. Read every word of every question slowly and carefully. Also, I like to read every answer choice (and read all the words in the choices slowly and carefully too!). Even if you are sure the answer is A, go ahead and read the other options just to be sure. Especially with CARS, there is generally a good answer, a better answer, and a best answer. Again, do this if you have extra time. I bet it'll help