Genuine mistake or Careless Mistake??

Some students complained to me that they always get lower mark in their physics test or exams. They said that they did plenty of mistakes. Well, the fact is it is almost impossible to get 100% mark in your physics paper even if u get soalan bocor :) Mistakes obviously show us what needs to be improved. Without them how would we know what we had to work on.

...Genuine mistakes
Usually students will loose marks on genuine mistakes, i.e mistake that is inevitable due to your poor knowledge on certain physics concept. This can only be improved if u have a good understanding on applying physics formula, laws and principles. Consult one to one session with your teacher,tutor or friends  if u still have this kind of problems.Act now before its too late.The difference between excellent and mediocre students are judged by how they react on their mistakes.


Besides that, u  must appreciate that 1 mark in  exam sometimes can make huge different on your physics's grade. Some students get an A just by 1 mark while some of u were just passed by 1 mark. Each mark is valuable in exam and they all have the same value. You should not have 'tak apa' kind of attitude towards certain question. What i mean is..certain student dont memorise definition bcause it contributes only one mark. U'll never know that 1 mark should perhaps help u to get higher grade.

..Careless mistake..
Don't forget that easy marks are just as important as the difficult one. In SPM u can't afford to lose easy marks especially due to careless mistakes. If u do more than 10 careless mistakes, u have the tendency to get a lower grade i.e from "A- to B+ or in worst case from C+ to D"
In past exams or tests, u must acknowledged number of careless mistakes that u have done. If u did plenty of them, u should say "Its enough!". Once u rectify reasons behind the mistakes, never repeat it again.Trust me, your best teacher is actually is your LAST MISTAKE.

ZERO Careless Mistakes campaign...
This year i'm campaigning for ZERO careless mistakes among my students.  To help u rectify your own  mistakes in physics's paper, here are some of examples on where common careless mistakes actually came from..

• misunderstood or misinterpret questions 
• no units included in calculation (paper 2)
• U keyed in the wrong figures or operation in your calculator
• student overlooked these magic words.. "except".."not true" .."false"(common in paper 1)
•  did not convert unit into SI unit ( common in paper 1)
• Failed to observe difference or similarities between diagrams (paper 2 section B)

There are many other type of careless mistakes  which i haven't mentioned.Perhaps u can also share your xperience on your own careless mistakes with others. I hope from this article, u should look at your mistakes in a positive way. Like it or not..without mistakes, we might learn nothing. Success seems to be connected with action. Successfull students keep moving. They make mistake, but they dont give up to learn from it. 

I leave u guys with this famous quote from Winston Churchill:

"All men make mistakes..only wise men learned from their mistake."

with best regards,

Cikgufizik@physics4spm.com