Help! I don't want to go through this again!

Student Lounge College Life
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<p>I'd say I've had a bad experience with math, but that would be an understatement.</p>

<p>I'm not sure if you guys have had similar experiences, but my class was basically an "experimental" class when it came to the state's math program. We were exposed to a myriad of integrated new math, which overall I believed hurt us more than helped us. We never studied a "subject" per se; in 8th grade we were jumping all over the place and learning a different kind of math every week. </p>

<p>I had some of the worst teachers I've ever had in the math department. My 8th grade math teacher didn't keep her books and told me she didn't have my homework grades for an entire semester and said I had to redo all of it if I couldn't find it, which resulted in me being pulled from my extracurriculars. My freshman and sophomore years I had teachers who lasted one year because students hated them so much. We were learning algebra in geometry, trigonometry in algebra. Overall, it was a real mess.</p>

<p>I'm a very smart person. I love science, I'm very talented in the verbal and reading department, but I am detrimentally unskilled in math. My father is an algebra teacher and is always there for help, but there's only so much he can do for me before he's just doing my homework. I started taking math at my previous college and understood nothing and ultimately failed.</p>

<p>I suffer from "show and tell" syndrome - when somebody teaches me how to do a certain mathematical function, I can do it. When I get back to my dorm room, I just stare at the problem until I'm so frustrated that I cry and open my solutions manual. I don't retain any math. I just had my first algebra test and I studied for hours. I'll be lucky if I got a 60. I actually cried during the exam, haha. These are things I've learned MULTIPLE times, and I just don't logically know the first step (or any of the steps, actually) in solving anything other than basic equations.</p>

<p>What do I do? How can I teach myself to remember the steps to solving problems? This has plagued me for years and tanked my GPA since high school. It's just so, so frustrating. If somebody showed me a paper filled with equations to solve and another full of Greek, I'm almost willing to bet I would be less frustrated by the Greek.</p>

<p>No, I'm not about to be tested for LDs. For once in my life, I need a solution instead of an excuse. </p>

<p>:( Please, suggestions? Nothing sticks with me. My professor is an unforgiving old Pakistani-Indian man and isn't the most elaborate or warm.</p>

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<p>How much math do you need for your major?
I really am glad that you have the “solution instead of an excuse” mentality. That will get you places.
Once I heard of a guy on Youtube who used to make rhymes for what to do in a lot of algebra and trig problems. I can’t quite place his name at the moment, but maybe someone else on this topic can. I remember my brother used to have a lot of trouble in math at first, but watching the videos helped him more than anything else. He got to the point that he only needed to spark his memory as to what to do first, then everything else took off. Hopefully it will work for you too.
(I will ask him the name of that guy)</p>

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<p>I’m a biology major, so I will need to get as far as pre-calculus and statistics. Thanks for looking into that for me! I just… I can’t differentiate between kinds of problems and I can’t remember how to solve them. It’s very frustrating. I’m trying so hard to walk away from CC with stellar grades but math is bringing me down :[</p>

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<p>Statistics is more language and reading than it is math, so you need to worry more about pre-calc.</p>

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<p>Just pre-calc? I thought at most schools you would need calculus for a science major…at mine you need Calculus I and II.</p>

<p>Does your school offer tutoring that you could take advantage of? How do you memorize things for other classes - try writing down all the steps to solve a problem and memorize that like you would memorize things for your other classes. I know that I remember stuff better when I write stuff down, so last semester when studying for my corporate finance tests, every time I did a problem, I wrote down what each step was and what I was doing along with solving the step until I solved the problem.</p>

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<p>I was going to help you, but since you implied being diagnosed with an LD would be an excuse, now I won’t.</p>

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<p>I know this sounds simplistic, but you probably just need to practice math more. Algebra really isn’t that difficult. The steps don’t change much. Half of the battle with math at that level is just knowing the steps to solve an equation. </p>

<p>If you are struggling with math, just do more math problems. Make sure you have an answer guide to help you with your math problems. Do a practice question, then compare it to the practice guide. Usually you can see where you went wrong when you compare the answers. Just try to learn from your mistakes and then practice some more.</p>

<p>If you master the fundamentals of Algebra math starts to become quite easy.</p>

<p>Try Khanacademy.org. He’s got tons of free videos for all levels of math. If you’re struggling with a certain aspect of algebra, I’m sure there is a video on his site that will explain it in a very easy to understand way.</p>

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<p>god… if I had a quarter everytime I heard “but I/he/she/they have ADD” as an excuse I would have TOO MANY QUARTERS!</p>

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<p>“I was going to help you, but since you implied being diagnosed with an LD would be an excuse, now I won’t.”</p>

<p>For most people, an LD would be an explanation, not an excuse. If I were to find out I had an LD (which TBH in all likelihood I do, my family is riddled with them) I know it would only assist me in making excuses for myself. I don’t need that, I need to learn how to remember math.</p>

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<p>The problem with math for me is that often the problems are different in homework, or else you have to do them in a slightly different way than in class - no two problems are the same. The key is instead of trying to memorize steps, memorize patterns. Look at one problem, and think about WHY you are doing it, rather than what you have to do to do it. For example, when you look at an equation, realize what you need to do to get to the end, and they see how you can do it. I second khanacademy- saved my physics grade.</p>