One of the reasons game shows like Jeopardy! are so popular is the excitement created between the question and the answer. There's a little bit of tension. Money is on the line (if you're playing) and perhaps ego (if you're watching). And, on Jeopardy! we never have to wait very long to find out if we're right - the show would be pretty boring otherwise!

When practicing GRE questions, the same type of tension exists. We work on the question. We select an answer. Are we correct... yes! Or... no! If we're not (or if we guessed), it can be very tempting in that moment to look at the solution, or (if we don't have access to the solution), to cursorily think about why the right answer makes sense. But the fun has definitely stopped - and what we often do to keep the party going is to jump into another question, or set, or practice test.

I'm not saying you have to correct each question right after doing it. But when you are ready to correct your work for that study session, it's helpful to follow a protocol to make sure that you're squeezing all the juice out of the questions you missed or guessed on in terms of becoming better at the GRE. This is WAY less fun than just doing more questions - but it will help your score a lot more. Here are some ideas.

1. Calibrate your correction energy to your timeframe and the importance of the question

Someone with a 160 quant score goal and two months to prepare might leave more Gregmat questions behind than someone with a 170 quant goal and 3 months. The latter can be more of a perfectionist; the former might not finish her study plan if she worries about everything.

A good rule of thumb if you have limited time is to look for overall mastery (85% correct) across the topic all resources combined (i.e. 80% for a topic on Gregmat and 90% on the Manhattan 5-lb. book) - if you're there, you have more leeway to skip questions you are really stuck on.

Both of the above people will treat ETS quant questions similarly, since those are the most valuable and realistic ones.

2. Don't give up until you've put in some effort.

If you miss a question, maybe just try it again. If you can't, re-watch a relevant video, then try again. If you still can't, ask Claude for a hint. And if you're STILL stuck, ok, fine - watch the solution -- but try to predict where you screwed up first. Again, this should be calibrated to your goals and timeframe, but I see too many people immediately look at the solution before putting in any effort.

3. Redo the question

No matter what happened in step 2 (above), you need to actually execute the question's solution, all the way through, by yourself. Don't be content with understanding the solution. You need to make sure you can actually solve the question all the way through. If it's a verbal question, you need to make sure you complete each step of the strategy as directed. Don't just think about "hey, that answer makes sense now". Do the steps - and then do the question again after you've forgotten the solution (to make sure you can still do it). Maybe even add it to an Anki deck for periodic review.

4. Identify corrective actions

Are you weak at one or more concepts? Did you miss a strategy opportunity? Make a careless mistake? Maybe all three? Think about what actions, drills, or memorization you need to do to prevent this mistake from happening again, and then plan those actions.

5. Write down a protocol designed to help you work more carefully in the future.

Getting more than 20% of the questions wrong that you're working on isn't good for you. Slow down. Review your memorization or strategies before practicing. Write more neatly. Success begets success - preparing well for practice will reduce your mistakes - write down a checklist of things to do before each practice set.

The Bottom Line

A smart mistake correction protocol, in combination with error logging, will help the people with the discipline to follow it, since it will be more likely to build the skills to prevent future errors.