Arithmetic - concepts are easy, questions are not so easy; How to track mistakes without wasting time on an error log

Arithmetic

My plan for today was to go through the rest of the Veritas Prep On Demand Lesson 2: Arithmetic today. I did so, but it took a LONG time to go through all 100+ problem questions, look through the answers and understand why and how I went wrong. I've got a LOT to learn. I didn't understand a lot of the questions (even when I read the answer), so it will be interesting whether, and to what extent, I improve on this front. I spent about 5 hours on this.

A somewhat useful "trick"that I have used in data sufficiency is to follow the old AD/BCE method. If you do not know what this is, drop a comment and I'll explain.

Error log - approach

Instead of using a tedious error log to record every single question right/wrong, categorise the question etc, I have devised a simple method to track my mistakes so that I can attempt them again at a later stage.

• Where I've answered the question incorrectly (or I was correct through dumb luck / a guess), I have tagged a post-it to the top of the page. It doesn't matter whether I got it wrong (or was lucky) because I was careless or miscalculated or did not understand the right approach to take. 
• I then circle the relevant question in pencil (but don't bother doing so if there's only one question on the page, which is very common in the Veritas Prep course materials - I think they did that so you can, if you wish, do your working on the same page). 
• If, after reading the answer, I still do not understand the methodology, I move the tag to the corner of the page. For these questions, I will try to bring it to the attention of my tutor in class.

For the OG questions, I'll use an OG error log that I downloaded from Beat The GMAT. Because the questions on this error log have already been categorised and subcategorised, and the official answers already recorded, it will be a very simple task for me of inputting my answers. This seems like an efficient use of my time, rather than laboriously inputting a whole bunch of data and making judgment calls about categorising questions myself. This will also be enough to give me an indication of what areas I should focus on in the later stages of my preparation. 

Next

Unfortunately I didn't get to sit another practice CAT, which I planned to do tonight. But it's 3am and there's no way I'm staying up for another 3 hours. I'll do this the next opportunity I get. 

I have decided to upgrade to the full course for Veritas Prep, and tomorrow's lesson will cover Lesson 2, which will be a useful refresh of what I have completed over the course of the last few days. My plan is to do the classes through the On Demand service before the actual classes - we'll see how this goes, as maybe it is better to do it the other way around.

Running tally to date:

• 22 hours of prep work (including going through materials, doing practice questions, attending class, and checking answers and mistakes; does NOT include taking practice CAT exams).
• 1 CAT exam. (CAT 1: 620/40Q/35V).