Autopsy of a test result: How panic, exhaustion and arithmetic don't mix

Since my school days I've had this rule on test results: If you can understand why your answers are incorrect, you are OK. The reasoning behind it is that if you are able to figure out what went wrong and why, that means the learning had taken place but there was a mistake along the way to execution. On the other hand if you have no clue as to why your answer is incorrect, that should send you back to review the concepts being tested.

 

As I related in my previous post I scored a 24.5 out of 34 in my Pre-Calculus final. The one that was 2.5 hours long and I had to take twice back-to-back because I thought I had set the time running on the final attempt by mistake. I took this week to understand what wheat wrong in those 10.5 items I got wrong. The answers surprised me. But they really shouldn't have.

 

In one of my Encouragement pictures posted here there is a quote that reads: 10 out of 9 times it's arithmetic that gets you. No one seems to get the joke... But this test is testament to that. 9 out of the 11 items missed were due to arithmetic, but not the way that you think. Here is the list of reasons my answers were incorrect.

 

1. Wrote the wrong sign when copying problem.
2. Used full angle when I needed the co-terminal angle. Which I knew was only in Q4 or Q1.
3. Wrote the wrong sign when copying problem.
4. Wrote a 28 that looked like a 78, I couldn't read my own writing!
5. This time I used a sign incorrectly (summed -3+10 and wrote -7).
6. Used a parenthesis instead of a bracket in an interval, even when I knew the number was included in the interval.
7. Error copying line in a problem, I wrote a 5 instead of a 1 in the line below.
8. I got the answer write but the program would only accept the variables py as p*y. A clearer head would have realized this.
9. Boldly stated that the square of 9 was 49...which is the square of 7.
10. Forgot to find the squarer root of the hypotenuse in a Pythagoras theorem solve. I am actually good at solving these problems, it was a huge oversight.
11. I was too exhausted to simplify the solution of a half-angle cos identity.

With the possible exception of 2 and 6, the rest of my mistakes were due to my exhaustion and my panic to solve the test. Most of them were due to sloppy, hurried writing. The others were due to foggy thinking. I could find none that showed a flawed understanding of the material. In fact when I got back to doing these again for review, the moment I found my mistake was invariably followed by a "well, duh!", or "that was a stupid mistake". None of them were followed by a "why is this incorrect".

 

Before you think I am saying that I deserved a higher score, rest assured I feel I got the score I deserved. The mistakes I made were mistakes nonetheless, and they prove I need to pay more attention to what I am doing. And prove that I shouldn't take 5 hour long tests at 3am on a Saturday!

 

What do you think?