Struggling with Math?
Many math students say they don’t like math. It’s confusing, overwhelming, and something a lot of people struggle with. Often certain people react better to different explanations, and most people learn and solve problems at a different pace. However, math doesn’t have to be a source of worry. Most students don’t hate math, they just struggle with it.
“How many different steps you have to do confuse me.”
“It’s boring.”
“I zone out during class, and then I don’t know how to do it later.”
Sometimes, explanations just don’t click with students. Math can be hard, especially if you don’t understand a concept and the class starts moving forward without you. It’s overwhelming and a little scary. The worst thing to happen is when you are out sick, come back, and don’t understand anything.
“I missed so much school, I came back and there was a test which I totally bombed, and had retake.”
Even if you can understand some of it, you have to go to a teacher. If the teacher isn’t there, or if you are in chorus, orchestra, or jazz band you might not be able to catch up on what you missed. At this point, you have to learn on your own.
“I try to ask friends and look at our notes, but it’s still really hard to understand when you aren’t there.”
“Sometimes my parents can help me, but most of the time they can’t.”
Even though students can understand some of the basics of the concepts they missed or don’t understand, they often miss small rules or exceptions to rules. Here are some ways to learn the math you missed, at home!
Khan Academy (khanacademy.com) has amazing videos, and exercises. Not to mention it’s free, and 7th graders already probably have a school account. I always go here when I don’t understand something. Videos can range in time, but the longest are about fifteen minutes, tops. The shortest can be five to seven minutes.
Wolfram and Alpha (wolframandalpha.com) is a computer program that can solve any problem. For students who half understand something, but not fully, checking answers on problems can be helpful. The program also shows how to do the problem, however a better resource for that might be Slader (slader.com).
Try to form a study group with friends in your math class so you can catch up on stuff with your friends. Study groups can be really useful. You can meet with friends after school, text, FaceTime (or use any other video service), or email each other. This can also be helpful with homework, but be careful, you might make the same mistakes too.
Maybe you have a test coming up, and while you payed attention in class, you are worried you won’t do well on the test. You can use some of the above tools to study, but here are some methods that will help you manage and schedule time, learn and study, practice, and do well on your next test.
Schedule your time with a calendar on your phone, or use a planner. Make sure to plan when you want to study, and for how long. Plan before it’s time to study. A good rule is to plan when you want to study as you hear about the test, that way you aren’t “planning” two days before while studying. Remember, if you are planning when you should be studying it’s a waste of time.
Try using the pomodoro method. The trick is to plan for about thirty minutes of studying, take a five minute break, and do another thirty minutes of studying. Try to plan what you want to get done for each chunk of time, instead of aimlessly practicing problems.
Make a checklist of what you have to do. Instead of just saying that you are studying while not learning anything and wasting your time. Know what you need to do, and then get it done.
Go back and see when you started your unit. If you made mistakes in the homework, re do the problems and write down why you got them wrong. If you see a pattern emerging, it’ll be important to write down. If you see a pattern, it’s definitely something to practice or work on.
If your teacher offers any extra textbook problems, a practice test, or extra worksheets, do them. Your teacher is giving you a key to what will be on the test, why wouldn’t you use it?
Read, and do problems in your textbook. Your textbook has explanations and problems on whatever unit you are currently learning. Especially if you use your textbook for homework problems, some of those problems in the textbook might even be in the test.
Try to make a study guide, and refine all of your notes until you have only the essential information for your test.
Good luck on your next quiz/test!