Don't let yourself off the hook that easily. For every single test I take, I categorize incorrect answers like this:
Error Type
A. Dumb mistake (non-math)
B. Content Deficiency
C. Couldn't figure out
D. Over-analyzed
E. Under-analyzed
F. Did not read Passage carefully
G. Did not read question carefully
H. Math Error
When I got a question wrong on a practice test, I categorized it into a category from above and then wrote a short description of why I got it wrong (see my examples below). Below is the analysis of incorrect answers on AAMC11. Notice that many of these can be categorized as "stupid mistakes," but they can be refined even further. What kind of stupid mistakes are you making? Are they mathematical, logical, or careless? Mathematical means you knew the formula and all necessary variables to solve, but made an error like accidentally switching a sign or multiplying incorrectly. Logical would be something like: you know that frequency increases when an object is moving towards you, but the question presented the data in a more complex way and you could not logic into the correct answer (aka--no content deficiency exists, you simply did not reason through the question well). Truly careless is something like my #49 math error below (I solved correctly and obviously know that 1x10^5 has 5 zeroes, but then carelessly chose incorrectly).
AAMC11 spoilers below, highlight to view.
#13 – Dumb mistake. Q asked which direction a charge would move. I accidentally made the vectors pointing +ve towards +ve and +ve away from -ve… BE VERY AWARE OF SIGN.
#22 – Over analyzed. Q asks what units the modulus could be considered. I did the math of dimensional analysis and came to Modulus is in units of (F/area). I originally chose the correct answer of Pressure (Pascals), then moved on. I later came back to the question and re-thought it and changed it to Watts for an unknown reason. Watts is in work/time, Pa is in force/area, newtons is mass*distance/tme^2, Joules is energy – N*m, or W*s, etc.
#25 – Could not figure out. Q asks why a small compact object falling a short distance can ignore air resistance. I had trouble with choosing between two answers. Descriptors are compact and short distance. Yet, a feather can fall a short distance with significant air resistance. Additionally, at a short distance, the actual velocity of the object stays small, so air resistance is not yet significant. In the end, they wanted an answer that related to short distance to test knowledge that air resistance increases over falling.
#26 – Did not read question carefully. Q asks how much air resistance contributes to KINETIC energy. The passage states that a person can reduce their terminal speed by a factor of two with maximal air resistance. I answered "2" without realizing the question was referring to kinetic energy. To answer, use K.E. = 1/2mv^2 and realize that v = 2 and 2^2 is 4.
# 49 – Math error. Solved correctly, got about 1x10^5. Chose 10,000 incorrectly. Be more careful about math in general, converting units, and choosing the correct answer. 1x10^5 has FIVE ZEROS.
#51 – Under-analyzed – Q asks about ionization of X2 molecule. I was thinking of a bimolecular atom like NaCl and chose the one that produced a + and – ion. In reality, this is asking about something like O2. Energy added to something like O2 can be labeled as IONIZATION ENERGY if it causes the dissociation of an electron. The products are the electron and an O2+ cation.
Using the categories above, you can learn more about the nature of your errors. I also used this method to help identify the fact that I needed to switch focus away from content review and into test strategy... when "content deficiency" only shows up 1 - 2 times during practice tests, but you are still not reaching your target score, it is probably time to switch gears from studying content to coming up with unified strategies for a) targeting and b) eliminating the kind of errors that are keeping you from your target score.
The first step to decreasing the rate of error is targeting your errors systematically. Simply calling them "stupid mistakes" is not going to get you anywhere... You need to be more specific about why you are making mistakes. Once you identify a few patterns, you should immediately start recognizing questions that can trip you up.
Last suggestion: read over your previous error analysis from previous tests for 10 minutes before taking a practice test. I highlight the most significant part of the paragraph that I wrote per question with key points. This has helped me a great deal; I hope it helps some of you as well! 😳
Best,
C
PM me if you have questions!
