[ QUOTE ]
Whenever I take tests I get the results back and there are ALMOST ALWAYS problems that I get wrong that I KNOW the answers (and knew the answer when I took the test) to. I often misplace my keys or whatever and stuff like that too. My winrate would seriously double if I didn't do things like this, and my life would be a lot easier too. I do not know how to fix this. Any suggestions?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, actually... Cognitive behavioral therapy with a psychologist. You would basically work specifically on this issue, and on establishing patterns (forced habitual checklists) for every decision-making event at the table.

I had a lot of problem with this same issue in chess... I could focus and play near national-master level for almost an hour, and then relax my focus, become distracted by something outside (or even inside) the game and then proceed to hang a bishop in a very OBVIOUS and embarrassing way.

Also similar to your experience, I find that I get silly questions wrong on standardized tests and I have to develop similar techniques in order to achieve my best scores. I am currently doing this for the logic puzzles on the LSAT.

... Without this kind of meta-preparation for my head, I inevitably mar an otherwise exemplary score with silly errors due to mental laziness, bad logical habits, and the distraction of minutiae.

Sounds to me like you may be in the same boat. It isn't quite ADD, but many of the assets that stem from a busy and eclectic mind are also deficiencies that lead to sporadic attention being given to many things at once.

I often pick up and juggle ten tasks at a time, and accomplish all of them in tandem micro-spurts.. I can keep track of them all, and they all get done with good results, but to observe me in my house or in my old job as an IT manager would be very strange to someone not privy to my thoughts.. This kind of behavior is valuable in some circumstances, and less so in others.