Silly Mistakes?

[Garmani Kyaw]

I was dispirited today because I wasn't happy with my midterm score and knew I could've done better. Then I searched on the internet "why do I make silly mistakes on the exam?" I found this answer from quora and it really gave me a different perspective, I hope this helps those who feel the same way:

"What about your grades being low makes you depressed? If I had to hazard a guess, you associate a sense of worth with high grades, which of course means low grades means less worth.

There are multiple ways to try to help you out here, and only you can figure out which one helps the most. I would argue against “stop making silly mistakes.” Everybody will make mistakes. Ask yourself if you would be as hard on someone else for making the same mistakes as you are on yourself. If you wouldn’t, then ask yourself, why not treat yourself the same way you treat others? Don’t fear mistakes. Show compassion to yourself. By focusing on your mistakes you lose sight of how to fix them or get it right the next time around.

Or you could look at it this way — exams in school are meant to be a measure of your knowledge, and proof that you paid attention in class. But it’s not necessarily a perfect measure. Some people just aren’t great at taking tests. The fact that you call them “silly mistakes” tells me that ordinarily you know the answer. That’s the reason why you view them as silly, because you shouldn’t have gotten it wrong when you know the right answer. So, if you know the answer, that’s what is actually meaningful. Tests and exams are tools to measure something, and like all tools they aren’t always accurate. The grade isn’t the proof of your knowledge, it is the measurement, if that makes sense.

In general, what I would suggest is you figure out what you think low grades mean about you as a person, and start examining and questioning those thoughts and whether they are true. If they’re false, then you have to remember that for the times you feel badly again. And tell yourself that it’s false and why it’s false."

https://www.quora.com/I-made-a-silly-mi ... et-over-it

[Lisa Seidl 3H]

Oh wow thank you so much for posting this it actually really helped me feel better about my mistakes on the test too :)

[StephanieGrigorian2J]

This gave me a different perspective wow! Thank you for sharing this :)

[Kevin Pilcher 3J]

This was such a helpful post, I feel a lot better after reading it! :)

[Sheryl Ocampo 1D]

Thanks for sharing, that was really helpful :)

[Kaiya_PT_1H]

Thanks for this! I felt the same way and this was really helpful.

[Seraphina Joseph 1C]

I knew right after the midterm that I made a silly mistake on one of the problems

[Devan Nathu - 2H]

This was actually one of the most helpful posts I've seen on chem community to date, thank you!

[Lizbeth Garcia 1F]

This really means and helps me a lot, thank you so much.

[Isabel_Eslabon_2G]

I never really thought about "silly mistakes" in this way before. Thank you for sharing this. I think a lot of people (including myself) are too hard on ourselves for those types of mistakes.

[DominicMalilay 1F]

Yup, completely tanked that midterm :(

[SLai_1I]

This was great to read after the midterm. Thank you!

[Kaili Valenzuela 2B]

This was actually really good to hear. Thank you for sharing this! It made me feel a lot better!

[Eric Ngo 1F]

Thank you for sharing this. After the midterm, it was very important for us to hear. I too share your sense of dispiritedness but I hope everyone feeling the same way is able to rid themselves of this mindset soon!

[705512695]

Thank you for sharing this, this was really a good time for me to hear something like this.

[Jalyn Davis 3D]

Thank you for sharing this. I feel like sometimes I am hard on myself for getting certain things wrong when I usually get them right, so this made me feel a lot better.

[AlyssaMaynard1C]

I was dispirited today because I wasn't happy with my midterm score and knew I could've done better. Then I searched on the internet "why do I make silly mistakes on the exam?" I found this answer from quora and it really gave me a different perspective, I hope this helps those who feel the same way:

"What about your grades being low makes you depressed? If I had to hazard a guess, you associate a sense of worth with high grades, which of course means low grades means less worth.

There are multiple ways to try to help you out here, and only you can figure out which one helps the most. I would argue against “stop making silly mistakes.” Everybody will make mistakes. Ask yourself if you would be as hard on someone else for making the same mistakes as you are on yourself. If you wouldn’t, then ask yourself, why not treat yourself the same way you treat others? Don’t fear mistakes. Show compassion to yourself. By focusing on your mistakes you lose sight of how to fix them or get it right the next time around.

Or you could look at it this way — exams in school are meant to be a measure of your knowledge, and proof that you paid attention in class. But it’s not necessarily a perfect measure. Some people just aren’t great at taking tests. The fact that you call them “silly mistakes” tells me that ordinarily you know the answer. That’s the reason why you view them as silly, because you shouldn’t have gotten it wrong when you know the right answer. So, if you know the answer, that’s what is actually meaningful. Tests and exams are tools to measure something, and like all tools they aren’t always accurate. The grade isn’t the proof of your knowledge, it is the measurement, if that makes sense.

In general, what I would suggest is you figure out what you think low grades mean about you as a person, and start examining and questioning those thoughts and whether they are true. If they’re false, then you have to remember that for the times you feel badly again. And tell yourself that it’s false and why it’s false."

https://www.quora.com/I-made-a-silly-mi ... et-over-it

Thank you for posting this! I definitely associate my self worth, confidence, and esteem on grades because its a concrete number that tells me how well I'm doing. My favorite compliment to receive is "you're so smart", but when I get terrible scores, I invalidate all those compliments and get so sad. This really helps to reframe how I think.

[Winzel Payumo 1B]

Thank you so much for sharing this! It's really upsetting that we associate our worth with our grades and it's normalized to sacrifice our mental health for numbers. This perspective you posted really needs to be shared.

[Cooper Kinne 2E]

Thanks for posting this!

[Aliya Roserie 3I]

Thank you for this post! this is very helpful.

[Jalyn 3G]

Thanks for sharing; that's really interesting!

[Simran Bains 2C]

Reading this made me feel so much better. Thanks!!!

[Xinyu Li 1C]

Thank you so much for sharing this!

[Bryan Le 2K]

Thanks a lot for sharing this with us! This is a great way to look at mistakes. I feel better reading this.

[505598869]

Thank you for sharing this.. this has really been a problem for me.

[vuongnaomi1L]

Thanks for sharing this! It made me feel better about my mistakes on the test too!

[Jack Kettering 3D]

This is honestly such a great post thank you!

[tholz11]

This made me feel a lot better, thank you for sharing!

[Devan Nathu - 2H]

I always forget coefficients in chemistry because I am going too fast. Talking myself through the problem as I go really helps me.

[Victoria Dao 3G]

Late to this post, but thank you for this! This is making me more confident about the next midterm.

[Joel Meza 3I]

Extremely positive chem community post! Thanks for sharing this vibe with everyone in the class.

[Ryan Hoang 1D]

I just feel like it can be hard to disconnect the two, when you work super hard and end up still doing bad and worse than a large portion of the class. Oh well, I suppose.

[TJ Lai 2H]

I totally need this :( This is how I felt about MT1 as well. Overall I thought I knew/ prepped the material well, but I made so many silly mistakes. I need to work on 1) Slowing down to read the question better and 2) Being more forgiving of myself. Thanks for posting this!

[Jenaye Brelland 2I]

Ah, thank you for posting this! I recently watched a video on youtube talking about how the Simpsons expose the problem with grades and the school system, but the biggest take away I got from the video was that we need to celebrate our small wins in our academics as well. It talks about how Bart got all Fs but once he got that one D (passing for his grade), he celebrated it like it was an A+. I think I would want to treat myself kinder and find celebration in the small accomplishments as well.

Here is the link to the video, it is short: https://youtu.be/1CpanQiK5Jo

[Violet Kwan 3H]

Love this reminder, especially with midterms coming up. Thanks!

[Gwen Casillan 3E]

Thank you so much for posting this. It really helped me examine my state of mind and how hard on myself I sometimes get. Exams are always stressful for me, so this provided some insight on my worries.

[Nicole Critzer 2L]

I'll try to keep this in mind as I study for the upcoming midterm. Thanks for posting:)

[Truman Chong Dis 3G]

Thanks for posting this. This gave me motivation for the next midterm and gave me a new perspective on test taking.

[t_rasul2I]

this was great insight! Especially during online test taking, it is so easy to make silly mistakes and not be in the zone. I think it is important we stay positive!

[705383815]

Usually, if I make a silly mistake, then I probably was not paying attention to the problem that much. Making a list of things you need to focus on right before taking the test has helped me keep those things in mind while taking the test. Writing things down helps!

[Brenda Silva 1B]

Thank you for this post. It sure helped me see another perspective.

[OmarArafat_2K]

That was a nice read, and I completely relate. Thank you for sharing this post.

[jasonfarrales3D]

Thank you for this post! I felt really down about my midterm score as well, but this honestly made me see it from a much more different and positive perspective.

[Katelyn_Ortega_1D]

I made so many silly mistakes on the midterm and this really helped!! Thank you!!

[Emily Jacobo 1C]

I feel the exact same way sometimes! thank you for sharing this reminder, it’s really helpful and helps me to remember that it’s not the end of the world if I don’t do too well on a test :)

[Kylie Joe 2A]

This is great! I feel like a lot of adapting to higher education is realizing how what matters most is what you're getting out of a class and not necessarily your graded result.

[Gabe_Ek 1G]

Thank you for sharing! I feel much better after reading this and knowing I'm not the only person feeling this way!

[Aliya Roserie 3I]

Thanks for sharing. I honestly make the same silly mistakes and I just think more and more practice problems will help!

[Kelly Singh]

Thank you so much for this

[Jonathan3B]

Really needed this after my MT 1 score lol.

[Marco Vivar 3G]

This is helpful to destress

[Racquel Fox 2I]

This was really great to read. I think it's so easy to be really hard on yourself for a subpar test score, but it helps to put things in perspective.

[NayeliPlayas_1L]

I really appreciate that you took the time to post this and address this topic. Often times I put myself down when I don't achieve a certain grade on my exams. This really helps ease the stress for midterm 2.

[AdilaAhmed3I]

This is so true!!! I used to (and still do sometimes) be so hard on myself for making those little mistakes. I would somehow feel worse making those mistakes than missing a question I just did not understand. With coming to college I realized that they're inevitable and now to combat any of those harsh feelings I tell myself that I did know and understand the material but maybe I went a little to fast when reading the question or I did a small mistake in calculating the answer but now I know for next time to read slower and minimize them for next time

[Will Pham 1J]

Thank you for posting this :) It definitely gives me a better perspective on how I view tests and grades.

[Karen Zheng_2K]

Thank you for sharing this, it gives me new motivation for the upcoming midterm!!

[Kyla Villarama 1E]

I appreciate you sharing this, it means a lot!

[Jaclyn Dang 3B]

WOW, this saved me. I was am stressing for this midterm since I didn't do as well as hoped for the last midterm.

[Victoria_Sauceda_1B]

Thank you so much. This is interesting to be aware of

[Shanna Yu 1C]

Ahh, thank you for this. I haven't even looked at my score for the previous one because I get too anxious thinking about it, and now I'm stressing over the upcoming one. This helps a little bit; I really appreciate it!

[Maryeli Garay 2H]

Omg thanks for this I hate taking exams, they make me so anxious. We need to remember that our grades don't define us! And a bad score isn't the end of the world :)

[005137088]

thank for this, it is very helpful !!

[Abigail Tran 14a]

This was very motivating and made me feel better for midterm season. This is a great mindset to have in order to maintain good mental health!! I will definitely looking back on this at a reminder if I ever feel bad about my grades. Thank you!!

[Joseph Ettipio]

That is a good outlook, I'll keep it in mind for my first midterm.

[Sara Dolmo 2J]

wow this really helps me! I'm learning that its okay to make mistakes and the importance of learning from them so they don't repeat themselves.

[Eduarda Diniz 2B]

Thank you so much for sharing this! It was really helpful!!

[405509920]

Thank you for sharing this! It's really reassuring to know I'm not the only one out there.

[JohnathanH_1H]

That's quite an interesting perspective to take. Constantly throughout high school, I would always make "silly mistakes" on math problems, and I realized that the score I got wasnt because I didn't know what I was doing but more of that I just needed to slow down and take my time.

[Sophia Zhao]

I relate, thanks for this.

[305607822]

I like this post, thanks. Was so mad at myself cuz I know the EM spectrum like the back of my hand, but for some reason on the test I did it backwards and chose the wrong answer. But it's ok, I know what I know :)

[Madeline_Miller]

huh. I've never thought about it that way before. This was really helpful and made me feel better about making those careless, silly mistakes.

[Kirsten Yu 2K]

Great post! Thanks for making everyone feel a little bit better :)

[405718358]

I am so glad I saw this after taking the final for this class this made me feel better.