I am sure many parents are able relate the agony of careless mistakes with me. This is particularly common in young boys. They tend to be more careless and more resistant to change in this aspect.
In my tuition class, I share 5 strategies with my students to eliminate careless mistakes in Mathematics.
1. Write neatly and write big numbers
This is the most important strategy. First of all, it aids in the checking. If the child writes neatly, it is very easy for him to check his work.
Secondly, it eliminates the ambiguity of certain numbers. Can you imagine the teacher has a stack of exam papers to mark and still has to waste time guessing wheither a number is a '0', a '6' or a '9'.
You have to remind your child to write neatly at all times.
2. Time management
Time management in an exam paper will help the child to pace himself properly. How much time should be spent on each question?
The key phrase here is 'Don't linger. Don't dash." for each question. If you get stuck, move on to the next question. Do not waste too much time on one question.
It is also important to remind the child not to be affected by his peers during examination. When a child sees his friends putting their heads on the table to rest, he will be tempted to do so too.
This is a type of peer pressure. It is a very misguided thinking that 'I am faster than you and therefore I am smarter than you'.
Highlight to your child that it is the marks that matters.
3. Test the answers
This is something that I practise often in my tuition lessons. After the student gets the answer, plug answer back into the question to see if it fits.
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Ali and Ben have 30 apples. Ali has 20 apples. How many apples does Ben have?
30 - 20 = 10
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To test the answer, put the 10 back into the question. If Ali has 20 apples and Ben has 10 apples, they will have 30 apples altogether. This confirms that the answer is correct as the first sentence states that Ali and Ben have 30 apples.
Although this is a very simple strategy, it is not commonly taught in schools and hence it is not commonly practised also. You must practise this with your child. It is a very simple and yet very effective checking tool.
4. Watch out for transfer error
I see this very often in some students' work. When the question requires two steps, the answer from the first step is transferred wrongly to the second step. Take a look at the following example.
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Ali and Ben have 30 apples. Ali has 20 apples.
(a) How many apples does Ben have?
(b) How many more apples does Ali have than Ben?
(a) 30 - 20 = 10
(b) 20 - 16 = 4
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You can see that the student transferred 10 wrongly. It was written as 16 in the second step. Marks were lost for nothing.
To help your child in this, go back to Step 1: Write neatly. This will minimise your child from copying wrongly.
Another way is to teach your child to scan for all the transfers before handing up the paper.
5. Practise and practise and practise
Careless mistakes have something to do with accuracy. Ultimately, it is the lack of practice that contributes to careless mistakes. If your child practise enough, how can he get 1 + 1 = 2 wrong?
Help your child to practise addition and subtraction regularly. Test his multiplication tables often.
The key is to help the child practise enough so that they can create the habit and make it stick.
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