How to get rid of excessive 'silly' mistakes? While taking a test a student is bound to make some mistakes but I make excessive errors. It's not that I get a question conceptually wrong. I'll make a mistake in reading it or in simple arithmetic calculations.       

This issue is not a new occurrence it's been haunting me since middle school. I've seeked advice from my teachers/parents/classmates they are always along the lines of:   


Try to stay calm during the exam.  
Practice more questions.   
Read the questions properly.    


I've done all of that. I try my level best not to make any mistakes but they just happen and it frustrates me to no end.   

I distinctively remember my middle school math teacher  telling me that if I don't take care of my silly mistakes I'll pay the price later.    

As a cocky preteen I brushed away her warning after all silly mistakes are just silly mistakes but she was correct. I did pay the price. I messed up an exam recently  and now  I won't be getting a  tier A university.      

How do I stop making silly mistakes?
First, stop thinking about "Tier A" or "Tier B" or whatever "tiers" -- it's another kind of a silly mistake. You have the whole Internet in front of you, so gaining knowledge anywhere is not an issue.

Next, after supervising many different students, I tend to believe that some people are inherently unable to be meticulous. We indeed should discipline ourselves, and simple tricks do help. The best one is to write, put aside your writing, do something else, re-read later carefully and fix.

However, in general I think the best advice is to focus on your strong parts. Yes, perhaps, you won't win a medal for attention to details. So try to train yourself to the best of your abilities, but think what kind of future job/career would not be too demanding in this regard. Exams are quite artificial situations, hopefully in "normal" life you won't have to do often something quick and correct while the clock is ticking.