These past few weeks of highschoool, I’ve really been losing all my hopes in overcoming math as, despite my efforts, I can’t seem to understand why I am so terrible at it. Just recently, I took a math test a got an F. My grade is currently sitting at a 44% which puts me at the verge of failing a class and forcing me to either make or break by the end of the semester, which is in 3 or so weeks at my school.
To be honest, I don’t really know what it is about my failure to be competent at math. As a highschool student, I’m on the A Team for Academic Bowl, I’m debate club president, and I am an AP student who has relatively good AP scores. However, when it comes to math, I just fail - literally. Whenever, I learn a new math concept, I seem to master skills best whenever I work the skill repetitively for a long period of time. However in my Math 3 STEM class, if we move on to a new lesson, the knowledge I learned from 2-3 days ago will all be gone. Whenever I try to look back at my notes, the numbers I’m reading hardly make sense despite the fact I just learned them less than a few days ago.
Can someone here in CC tell me what is going on? I’ve tried tutoring (which helps but only if it’s everyday a week which is barely budgetable,) I tried staying during lunch to work with my teachers, and I’ve worked with friends outside of class but, it’s all been to no avail. I have a test on Monday that I’m so nervous about. This is my junior year and I know that acing this test really means everything for my transcript. Please, can someone please tell me what is going on with me and my failure or confusion with math? Why do I forget concepts so quickly unless it’s in constant repetition?
I feel you. I was failing AP Calculus for a while. Honestly, I found Khan Academy very helpful. Also, I’m not sure what Math 3 STEM includes but for AP Calculus, I bought the review book which simplified many concepts for me.
EDIT: Worked on the grammar for my post, couldn’t edit it quick enough. Sorry.
Dear CC,
During these past few weeks of high school, I’ve honestly just been losing all my hopes in overcoming math. Despite my efforts, I can’t seem to understand why I am so terrible at it. Just recently, I took a math test that I studied rigoriously on and got an F. Currently, my grade is sitting at a 44% which puts me at the verge of failing the class and forcing me to either make or break my grades by the end of the semester, which is in 3 or so weeks at my school.
To be honest, I don’t really know what it is about my failure to be competent at mathematics. As a high school student, I’m on the A Team for Academic Bowl, debate club president, and I’m an AP student who has relatively good AP scores. However, when it comes to math, I just fail - …literally. Whenever, I learn a new math concept, I seem to master skills best whenever I work on the skill repetitively for a long period of time. However in my Math 3 STEM class, whenever we quickly move on to a new lesson, the knowledge I learned from 2-3 days ago will almost all be gone. And when I try to look back at my notes, the numbers I’m reading hardly make sense despite the fact I just learned them less than A FEW DAYS AGO.
Can someone here in CC tell me what is going on? I’ve tried numerous solutions such as tutoring, talking to my teachers, working with friends outside of all but, to all no avail. I have a test on Monday that I’m so nervous about. Knowing this is my junior year I’m aware know that getting an A on this test is really significant for my transcript. Please, can someone tell me what is going on with my failure/confusion with math? How do I forget concepts so quickly unless it’s in constant repetition?
Here, you will want to make sure your notes are organized and flow together. If it’s a formula or theorem, draw a box around it. Use arrows (==> for “implies”, <==> for “if and only if”) to signify logical flow (I hate reading a bunch of equations with no direction whatsoever). You probably won’t remember what the random numbers mean unless you know how you obtained them. In general, your notes will make much more sense if you can follow them.
Sometimes, it just takes a lot of practice. For example, it took me a while to be able to consistently factor quadratic polynomials into products of linear expressions (given that it factors nicely, without solving for the roots).
One of the best tests for understanding (IMO) is whether or not you know the material is if you can explain it to someone else. See [url=http://artofproblemsolving.com/articles/learning-through-teaching]here[/url] for example. I agree with a lot of Rusczyk’s points here. I’ve also noticed from my own experience, if I can comfortably explain a new concept or the proof of a theorem, I am less likely to forget it as well.