What could be done about carelessness

bobbycheung

My kid is hopelessly careless.  The easier the questions, the more careless mistakes she makes.  She is now 14 and we have been trying to help her to solve this problem since primary.  Do your kids have this problem?  What could be done?  Is there any book or course that could help her?

whitesky

I am guessing lack of focus might be one of the causes. If a child is attentive， lots of careless mistakes can be reduced. That was my experience from my child. Now I purposely put him in a quiet room to do his homework，no toys， no internet or no other distractions. And depends on subjects， math can repeat to practice a bit.

bobbycheung

whitesky,

Thanks for your advice.  What annoys me most is that she doesn't have this problem when it comes to difficult questions.  She just keeps on throwing away marks on the easy ones.  Yes, lack of focus might well be the cause.  I also thought of the possibility that it might be the result of exam anxiety or sheer impatience.  Someone also told me that this problem is more common amongst international school kids and that if my kid does more drills in maths, she will make less careless mistakes.  The problem is that my kid doesn't have this problem in maths only.  It happens across the board in all subjects.  I am really at wit's end.

HKTHK

Is she aware of the problem herself and does she think of it as a problem?  My kid is like this as well but has been improving as she becomes more aware of the problem.

bobbycheung

HKTHK.

Yes, she is fully aware of it.  During the past 10 years, I tried talking to her, explaining to her, discussing with her, scolding her, shouting and screaming at her.  (The only thing I haven't yet tried is strangling her and I was pretty close to doing just that the other day).  Sometimes she cried over it and all seem well until the next test.

annie40

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Bobby,

其实令爱已经很叻, 可能是性格上开心左D, 凡事不很在乎的, 非常开心快活人而已! 有这点特征的女孩子特别可爱, 幸福指数很高, 你应该是兴幸啊!

我的经验是有斗心和对自己有要求的孩子, 在功课和考试时是较少犯错的.  会否认真考虑如何帮阿女提升战斗力!!!!!! 提升战斗力的诱因是个好提材, 大家可以一起研究吓!

annie

bobbycheung

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annie,

Thanks for the flattering comments.  Your description of "性格上开心左D, 凡事不很在乎的, 非常开心快活人"  fits my son more.  He doesn't really care about anything apart from football.  So be it.  On the other hand, my girl is exactly "有斗心和对自己有要求的孩子".  She works very very hard and always strive for the best.  It bothers me more as all her efforts are wasted by all these careless mistakes.  It just seems that she can't do anything about it.  

Bobby

annie40

Bobby,

请放心, 当年同校十足似你个仔性格的男孩,几乎留班, 今日MIT computer sciecne 都笔左业了.  开心也可以是优点.

相反地会否令千金是过于nervous, 少了一点求知的松雍.  或是同班的孩子几乎大部分很有斗心, 令爱偶然多几个careless mistakes, 就变成成绩表上不是最高分的两三个. 令她慢慢地失了自信. 愈想干好愈是干不好,很是不公啊!

其实小女也会有careless mistakes, 可能是同校的孩子的同样mistakes 多过佢很多, 而老师比分松手, 变成我都唔多觉是问题.  因此满不在乎. 或许也是相对论, 而非原全是令爱的独自问题.  

最近得知贵校几位孩子每天参与两三个小时运动, 依然在IGCSE拿得极多A*  (够资格报Oxbridge), 看来松弛的心情, 对念书也有一定帮助.  或许可以考虑一些课外活动.

annie




  

bobbycheung

Annie,

我個仔, MIT一定無佢份.  我估佢嘅夢想係去ManU踢波多D.
我個女真係好緊張考第幾. 生出嚟嘅性格係咁, 叫極都改唔倒.  
叫我個女放鬆D, 同叫我個仔勤力D, 一樣咁難.  It's mission impossible.
Anyway, I have also been thinking if my girl's nervousness and exam anxiety are the root of the problem.

Bobby

bobbycheung

- duplicate post -

JTmom

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Hi Bobby,
If you girl is very concerned about her scores, then she should be motivated enough to make improvement in her carelessness. She may benefit more if you help her analyze the issue by laying out the facts. (Not analyze it for her). I suggest you take out the last few tests with her. 1st praise her for the ones that she did right and asked her if you could look at the wrong ones with her together. Ask her to take out a piece of paper, for each wrong answer, catagorize it under a) reading the question wrongly, b) do not understand question, c) calculate answers wrongly d) choose wrong Multiple Choice answer by mistake, d) written down the wrong answer if not MC questions e) Others.

Then go through all the wrong answers and see if she can find a trend. If for example a) is the main reason for her carelessness. Then ask her what she could do differently next time to avoid this issue. Have her write down several solutions. Let her practise on an mock test that you prepare for her using those solutions that she suggest and compare the scores to see any improvements. Repeat the process with her until she finds a way to help herself improve.

Carelessness is a habit acquired, not neccesarily part of her personality. To break a habit, you need to introduce a new 'process' and break it down so that she can manage to change.

Hope it helps.

b.rgds,

bobbycheung

JTmom,

Thank you so much for giving me the detailed advice.  I appreciate it very much.  Yes, we did on previous occasions try to group her mistakes under different categories as you suggested.  Her mistakes are mostly reading the questions wrongly, failing to follow the instructions (eg. failing to simplify her answers when she's asked specifically to do so)  or copying down the wrong answers even when she gets the workings and everything else correct.  She agreed that she needed to read the questions carefully, that she should slow down, that she should double check her answers ............  We even wrote all these down in a list so that she knows exactly what she should do in a test .  But then such careless mistakes continued and when I asked her what happened, she said she didn't know why she did it again.  You are right. We must somehow break this habit of hers.  We will try the mock test as you suggested.

Bobby

JTmom

You are welcome. Solving this problem may be important but if somehow you feel that she is stressed about this. You may want to step back and be more positive in helping her. First and foremost, emphasis to her that you loved her no matter how she scores. And there are always more solutions than problems in this world.
Assure her that she will continue to help her find a solution together. Don't let her think that "she did it again". It's better to help her think she hasn't find the right solutions yet. And affirm her that she will get there. Good luck!

KELSEYLI

Hi, this is a very good topic. I have a few questions about your girl. I guess she is really smart in her academic performance. But have u think of her other performance? Something  like can she organize herself well in her daily life? Example -like packing her school bag and making her bed.  If she can manage well in her daily life, I do believe she will be more careful on her work and test.  Also, is she over-confident to everything?  Then, i think she would easily overlook the mistake.

Shootastar

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Have you consulted some clinical or educational psychologist or psychiatrist to solve the problem?

bobbycheung

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KELSEYLI,

She didn't need to do much about the things that you mentioned such as making her bed etc.  Everything was more or less done for her since she was young.  But now I have asked her do all these things by herself.  Yes, she might be over-confident.  I don't know for sure, but I have the feeling that she's always in a rush to get all the "easy stuff" over and done with so that she could go on to tackle the difficult questions as soon as possible.  What bothers us is that sometimes the marks she loses in the easy questions (all because of careless mistakes) more than offset the marks she gains in the difficult ones.  She is fully aware of the need to slow down (especially on the easy questions) but it is just that every time she goes into the exam room, she forgets what she is supposed to do.

By the way, in my search of a solution for my girl, I came across the following 2 articles which might be useful for kids who have the same problem.

How to help your child avoid careless mistakes in exam
https://sites.google.com/site/drlu002/tips/how-can-i-help-my-child-focus

Careless Mistakes
http://eduguide.sg/Parents/Primary/CarelessMistakes/tabid/138/Default.aspx

bobbycheung

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Shootastar,

I've never thought about it.  I am giving my girl one more try and if there is still no improvement, I will consult them.  But I don't even know how to go about it.  How to contact them?  

PS.  In any event, I guess I will need to go and see a psychiatrist myself pretty soon.

Shootastar

repeated, see below.

Shootastar

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I think you should discuss the problem with the counselor / educational psychologist of your girl's school. They should have a list of doctors to assist on the case. For your information, one of my kid had the similar problem - ADHD and carelessness and forgetfulness are the problems. After taking medicine for two years, all the problems had been rectified.