I come across students daily who struggle in their academics, particularly in mathematics. For the students who are not trying or do not care, this message isn’t for you. Unfortunately, there is not much anyone can do to help someone who simply will not try or does not care. For all others, I see many students quietly failing their class as time continues to pass by. One bad grade after another accumulating. At some point, it may possibly be too late to undo! As I begin to understand and discover why this continues to happen to students who are “doing all the homework and still failing the tests”, what I have learned is the simple fact, you can do it, not always alone.
So, students, here are a few tips for you to win your math struggle…
- Do ALL of your homework. And furthermore, write it out on paper, step by step, even if that means you have to kill trees. Learning math means doing math and the paper is worth your learning!
- ALWAYS use answer keys while doing your homework. First, do the problem, then check your solution. Instant feedback is essential to correcting mistakes.
- After doing your homework, if there were types of problems that you didn’t understand or missed a lot of, ask for more practice problems from your teacher or find some on the internet or textbook.
- Okay, so you can do all of your homework? Does that really mean you are ready for that quiz or test? Not necessarily! Create a similar pre-quiz or test and TIME yourself and GRADE yourself. If you are going to make mistakes, make them on your practice quiz/test, not on the real one!
- Build a good working relationship with you teacher/professor. Visit tutorials and office hours. Let them know who you are and show them you are trying. If you are a college student, see if your university offers tutoring or a math lab.
- Create study groups with other students who care and are willing to work hard and want to succeed. Work problems together and check each other as you go.
- Write note cards with important notes/formulas as you go to keep everything in one place.
- And if you still need support, that’s okay! There’s MaThCliX!
You don’t “study” math, you DO it! Bottom line. Know your resources and use them. Others have gone before you and no one becomes a huge success all alone.