HAST common mistakes: seven habits that cost marks
Seven avoidable HAST errors, from importing outside knowledge into reading answers to chasing one difficult puzzle for too long.
Most preventable losses are process errors, not missing facts. Track the habit behind each wrong answer so the same failure does not reappear in a different-looking question.
Seven patterns to correct
- Reading beyond the evidence. Choose what the passage supports, not the answer that matches your prior knowledge.
- Calculating before modelling. Write the relationship and units before touching the arithmetic.
- Accepting a partial pattern. In abstract reasoning, test a proposed rule against every row or column.
- Spending too long on one item. Use a time boundary and preserve marks available later.
- Practising only favourite sections. Allocate time from error evidence, not confidence.
- Writing without a destination. Decide how the response will develop and end before drafting.
- Reading solutions passively. Close the explanation and solve a fresh or delayed version unaided.
Turn errors into a drill
For each error, record the clue you missed, the method you should have selected and one sentence describing what you will do next time. Re-attempt after a delay. If you can only solve it while the explanation is visible, the correction has not stuck.
Measure the right improvement
Track accuracy by skill family and whether you finished within the checkpoint. A higher raw score on a familiar set can conceal memorisation; success on unseen material is better evidence.