How to Avoid Careless Errors While Testing

Avoiding Careless Errors

Testing is an integral part of modern education. Even though many people feel like they don't truly retain information crammed into their minds for tests, tests still serve as effective filters that separate students who know covered material from those who don't.

Let's look at several ways to avoid careless errors while testing, whether that's at college, secondary school, in the workplace, or for a driving test.

The Rigors Of Taking Tests

Standardized tests are an integral part of modern education, even though many people struggle with them. Fortunately, several strategies for increasing one's performance on standardized tests exist. However, none of them are cure-alls to failures to study, get enough sleep, eat proper breakfasts, and other common preparations that kick peoples' proverbial butts into gear.

Regardless of how well tests do in helping students learn and retain material, let's brush over several tips for avoiding careless errors while taking tests.

Let's get started.

Practice Better, More-Legible Handwriting

Face it - most people, especially males, don't have the cleanest, most legible handwriting. Sometimes, reading numbers and letters you've just written down proves prohibitively difficult, as if you're a modern, English-speaking and -reading citizen that's trying to read old-school Egyptian hieroglyphics for the first time, ever.

Rather than taking the risk of being unable to read your own handwriting during expensive, hours-long tests like the Graduate Management Admissions Test, which costs hundreds of dollars to take, be sure to write legibly.

Practice Makes Perfect

If you're slated to take a standardized test in the next few weeks or months, practice next to a computer opened up to a spreadsheet so you can keep track of your mistakes.

Try your hardest to analyze mistakes as soon as they happen to increase your chances of correcting and - if all goes well, and you're lucky on test day - preventing mental processing errors to best boost your overall score.

If you own, rent, or otherwise have access to study materials that split similar types of problems into groups, work on problems according to grouping, being careful to take note of any calculating or reasoning errors you've made.

Working on problems in large groups of similar problems allows test takers to brush up on deficiencies in rapid-fire form. Do it the right way - it's your career!

Don't Take Too Much Time For Any One Problem

When practicing for whatever standardized certification exam you're slated to take, calculate how much time per question per section you're allotted.

As each new section comes up, make a list of what time you should be at for whatever problem you're on. In time, you'll be able to run through all problems consistently.

Lets get started on preparing now for your certifacation exam by checking out our practice exams.