How do you learn from your missed questions/mistakes?

Question

I know we talk a lot about using an error log (which i do) but I am more specifically asking how is it that you learn from a wrong answer? I.e. what else do you guys jot down other than what the correct answer and maybe what you did wrong?

Answer 1

Hello Alissa:

In my GMAT prep, I made sure that no stone went unturned for questions I missed. I first went over the question to see if I could get it right on a second pass. Then I read descriptions and explanations for questions that stumped me. I kept working at it until I was totally convinced why the right answer was correct. Finally, (and this is the big key to my practice) I would teach the question to the wall or myself or anyone who would listen to prove to myself that I truly understood the details of it. Teaching a question really showed me the holes in my understanding. In fact, I rarely wrote down anything as far as an error log goes--saying it out loud helped me much more.

Hope that's helpful.