I've always been 'bad' at math! How can I improve my skills this year? Are there any programs?

Parents Forum
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<p>Ever since I’ve been young, I’ve always seemed to have a mental block when dealing with mathematics. I began to believe I was bad at math when I couldn’t understand it as quickly as some other students. I’ve been afraid of math.</p>

<p>This snowballed into a huge problem in my mathematics education. This affected my performance throughout my later years. I scraped by in college admissions by having excellent scores in everything but math.</p>

<p>I always believed that my mediocre school system was the issue, as they generally do not have good education.That may be partly true, but now I realize that I just never worked hard enough.</p>

<p>I can do math sometimes, but it takes me very long. I panic if I’m given a timed test, like on the SAT or just normal classroom tests. My main obstacle is fear. I panicked while looking at a long division problem yesterday.</p>

<p>I want to end my issue with math and become fairly proficient at it, and I want to stop being scared of it which I believe affects my performance. I used to think “I’ll never understand/be good at this, so why try?” Now I realize that doesn’t have to be true.</p>

<p>I’m a freshman in college, and I want to do something about this. I don’t want to take math classes here yet because they would scare me instead of helping me, and I don’t want to spend too much money on tutoring.</p>

<p>Does anyone know of a summer math program, online or in real life, that could help me?</p>

<p>I want to have structure instead of teaching myself on Khan academy, because then I know I’ll just stop. Maybe a community college math course could help, but the community college near my home is a bit of a disaster and probably wouldn’t help me.</p>

<p>I just want something cheap and educational to help me repair the math section of my mind. An online class for which I had homework and problem sets, but no set time limit for when I had to finish the course, would probably be the best thing. That would work for either the semester or the summer. I also want to be able to make money during the summer, so it couldn’t be too strict on time.</p>

<p>Basically, does anyone have any ideas about how I can repair my math skills? I feel it’s necessary for my education and my mental health. Are there any math programs/remediation camps/ things for college students?</p>

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<p>Kumon?</p>

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<p>Congratulations! If you can do math, but it takes you a long time, then… you can do math! And I love your can-do attitude.</p>

<p>I was going to recommend an Intermediate Algebra class on Coursera, but unfortunately it doesn’t look like it will be offered in the near future.</p>

<p>But then I thought, the Coursera algebra class is from UC Irvine. But if a college class in algebra from Irvine would be a good idea, then why not a college class from your own school, aimed at the level you are presently at? That way you’d have access to your own school’s math tutors and math center. What is it about taking a class at your own school that is scaring you? I have no idea about what classes would be available to you or how they would be structured, but often in remedial math classes, the assessments are more or less untimed. </p>

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<p>Oh, but wait, there’s [this</a> free Udacity class]( <a href=“https://www.udacity.com/course/ma008]this”>https://www.udacity.com/course/ma008) in algebra. Udacity classes are terrific- very interactive.</p>

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<p>I think you are right to see that it is likely a matter of discipline and sitting down and doing the work. I was terrible at math because of being shunted around in different experimental programs then thinking I was bad at it and not doing the boring problem sets and homework. But when I went to work, I started using all kids of statistics that had use and meaning and I really caught up. Maybe you will like stats, you never know.</p>

<p>Khan Academy is perfect for your needs. Short structured modules, explained well. Too bad if you don’t have the discipline to work them, I think that is telling you something. Maybe you can hire a student from your school that you feel comfortable with to sit with you on a regular schedule so you do a module and go over it with the student or do follow up with them. I shouldn’t cost much to have someone meet with you for an hour 2x a week. Then when you get your remedial work done, you should bite the bullet and take a class at your college.</p>

<p>And read articles to see if the insights further help overcoming the mental aspects
<a href=“Being Good at Math Is Not About Natural Ability”>Being Good at Math Is Not About Natural Ability;
<a href=“The Myth of 'I'm Bad at Math' - The Atlantic”>The Myth of 'I'm Bad at Math' - The Atlantic; </p>

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<p>There is no such thing as being bad at math, there are bad math teachers.
The best is to find a great math tutor who will determine quickly your weaknesses and work on building up your background. The best in our area is a word of mouth. Ask around!!!
Just remember, math is a languge of science. Aside from the level of math geniuses (which you or any of us are NOT), math is accessible to absolutely every one. And if you think about it, any language on our planet, English, Spanish, and definitely Chinese require much much higher level of brain actitivty than math (aside from the genius level). </p>

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<p>Try a community college. The one near us has a “math lab” class where you work at your own level with support from a teacher. Maybe that would help.</p>

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<p>I agree that Kumon may be an idea for you…
<a href=“I'm a math moron. No, really, you don't understand—I'm a math moron.”>http://www.slate.com/articles/life/human_guinea_pig/2006/11/the_math_moron.html&lt;/a&gt;
(I am not saying you are a moron!)</p>

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<p>Depending on where you go to college, finding a peer tutor might be what you need. Perhaps contacting the math department might be your first step.</p>

<p>My high school senior has a diagnosed math disability. To reiterate from other threads: He tests at the 98%ile in math reasoning and the 14%ile in computation/calculation. So, math like the SAT math was easier for him because there’s a fair amount of reasoning rather than rote math formulas and concepts. He’s waiting for his Math SAT II score, but I am not so hopeful about that since there was so much more to know-less reasoning, more math concepts/calculation.</p>

<p>Computation is very hard for him. He had to learn long division this year so he could do long division of polynomials; he had never been able to learn it before this. He also can’t remember formulas very well.</p>

<p>What has gotten him this far are personal tutors. My oldest son, a math major at MIT, tutored him through a very hard Algebra I class. Another young friend of ours, also headed off to MIT, has tutored my son through a very hard Alg II class, through Trig, and now meets with my son online about every two weeks to help with his pre-calculus class.</p>

<p>For the record, my son also was terrified of pre-calculus. He dropped it twice-last spring and in the summer-before finally having the nerve to stick it out this semester. He’s squeaking by with an A, but it’s not likely to stick to the end. But still, he’s more confident than he was and he enjoys math.</p>

<p>It will always be hard for him because of the way his brain is, but the tutoring has been critical to his success. </p>

<p>I wish you well. Kuddos to you for wanting to tackle this.</p>

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<p>OK, listen up. I did a lot of math tutoring when I was in high school and college.</p>

<p>Don’t listen to the idiots who say people are weak in math because of bad math teachers. There is a LOT more to it.The good news is that you absolutely can overcome your weakness. However, it will take a lot of diligence and self motivation on your part.</p>

<p>First, math builds upon itself, which is what makes for the difficulty. You need to strongly understand basic middle school math before you can really understand algebra and other higher level math. You need to understand Algebra before you can really understand geometry or college math. Here is what I recommend:</p>

<ol>
<li>Get tested. This step is CRUCIAL.See where you are deficient. It may be due to your inability to understand basic math taught in elementary or middle school.</li>
<li>Focus on the deficiencies in a logical, sequential format. Start with the basics and work your way up. Both Kumon and Khan academy are good ideas. I don’ t know how effective a community college math lab is; however, it might be worth at least looking into. I have found that simply taking one course, however ,such as a college remedial course, ,usually isn’t sufficient. </li>
<li>Consider getting a tutor to guide you in your studies if necessary.</li>
<li>Once you understand the mechanics of basic math and algebra, including intermediate algebra, start doing problems. Problems take practice. If you do enough of them, they become easier to understand. A good tutor or math program should be able to incorporate problems into the curriculum.</li>
</ol>

<p>After having taught many people, I can assure you that correcting your deficiencies is quite doable if you follow my advice especially as to the testing.</p>

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<p>I am pleased to read that you call me an idiot, taxguy. Great language choice!!! Kuddos!
I still say loud and clear, there is no such thing as being bad at math. There are people who canno learn how to speak, then these people will have difficulty with all other academic subjects, not just math.<br>
I have been to school where they do not start real math in HS, they start it in the middle school, and everybody CAN keep up, surprise!! I guess, if one want to be feeling whimpy than go ahead, but if you just have done every homework assignment and done it correctly, there is no way under the sun you could be bad at math, period. Coming from the idiot though.</p>

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<p>Miami…it is VERY clear that some folks have difficulty learning how to use languages well. :)</p>

<p>Give it a break. Some folks really are less math inclined than others. They can certainly improve their math skill usage but may never be outstanding in that area…even if they do ALL of their homework every night. </p>

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<p>It is difficult to learn a new skill that requires memorizing many bits and pieces in order to progress, as opposed to knowledge that is broader but allows you to function and you pick up the minutiae along the way.
I’ve always had difficulty with math because I have difficulty transferring short term memory into lng term memory.
It hasn’t exactly gotten easier with age!
But what’s funny is that I understand more than I realize.
I took a surprise math placement test, without any studying or review and without having taken a mathematics class in * years*, and I passed!
Which actually was scary, since I still wasn’t sure what I was doing.
I passed the class that it was a placement test for though.</p>

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<p>Thanks, everyone. Tangy: how would I get tested? Is there any official way to get tested?</p>

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<p>rompiewedge, while you wait to get tested, I urge you to give the Udacity algebra class a try: <a href=“https://www.udacity.com/course/ma008”>https://www.udacity.com/course/ma008&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I signed up, just to check it out. It’s friendly and accessible, and free, of course. And as soon as you sign up, you can start it right then and there. The Udacity courses have little snippets of lectures, and then little one or two question quizzes every four or five minutes. The course is aimed at people just like you. </p>

<p>If you try it and don’t like it, well, you’ve wasted five or ten minutes. No big deal. </p>

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<p>rompiewedge, my son’s testing wasn’t cheap (my dad paid for it), but it has paved the way to getting accommodations at his community college, though he’s not chosen to use them yet. The test that showed his disability was called the WIAT II. This test had two math subscores. My son took it twice, once at, I think a little before 11 and again at 12 1/2. While his reasoning jumped from 79 to 98%ile, his computation went from 7 to 14%ile. So he really does have something in his brain that just makes math calculation hard.</p>

<p>However, I totally agree with taxguy. Hard work and repetition has been a key to my son, and yes, he had to go back and learn middle school math. The two best and hardest classes he took were through Art of Problem Solving, an online school for kids gifted in math. He’s what you’d call twice-exceptional, gifted and disabled. The level of reasoning challenged him, but he needed a tutor to help work through computation.</p>

<p>I would begin with your disability office. Ask them what kind of testing (read: proof) they are looking for in order to accommodate you. </p>

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<p>Just note that there is such a thing as being “bad at math”: it’s called dyscalculia, and it’s as real as dyslexia (of course some people believe dyslexia doesn’t exist either). Typically it means being able to understand the concept but being unable to handle numbers, sometimes quantities, and generally computation. Repetition and lots, lots, lots of support can help to reach basic functioning for daily life and many kids with dyscalculia can use calculators.</p>

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<p>My younger son has issues with memorizing and holding information in his head. This has meant he’s great at math concepts, but not so great with math execution. The discrepencies in his abilities haven’t been so great as to hold him back, but there’s no question that some people have more difficulty with math than others. (My oldest kid figured out multiplication at 4, my youngest was the slowest kid in his class in multiplication.) It’s not always a question of bad teachers. I agree completely with taxguy that the first thing you want to do is find out where your issues in math are. Your college’s math department may offer placement tests that would help, or the disability office might help you. I also know that Saxon Math which is used by homeschoolers has free online placement tests which might be helpful. Good luck, life will be a lot easier iuf you aren’t scared of math.</p>

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<p>If you won’t stick to Khan Academy then you should probably hire a tutor. But find someone who can communicate with a non-math person - I had some teachers who were excellent at math and therefore didn’t understand why I had the questions I had (because I am missing some key part of the math language that means I have to work 5x as hard to understand it. I accept that now, I didn’t when I was younger). </p>

<p>I used to have that panicky feeling all the time with math, and I would stop feeling panicky by not doing the work, which is NOT HELPFUL!!! </p>

<p>As someone with the same general problem, here’s my advice:</p>

<p>Take very good notes in class - and ask questions. I had to have problems explained step by step in words, with examples of what happens at each step. I re-wrote the entire problem at every step so if I walked away and came back I could still understand what I did at each step. I also could use it as a go-by for other problems.</p>

<p>Learn the rules of math - PEMDAS, 2 negatives make a positive, etc.
Plan for short study sessions where you truly focus, and then do something rewarding for 5 minutes. Giving your mind a break from the concentration and focus required for math can develop a reward response for the focused work. </p>

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<p>“I’ve always had difficulty with math because I have difficulty transferring short term memory into lng term memory.
It hasn’t exactly gotten easier with age!”
-You had this difficulty because math is NOT taught correctly in the USA k - 12, not at all.<br>
I always loved math for the same exact reason that your difficulty, I HAVE NO MEMORY, NONE whatsoever, never had it. The lack of memory allowed me to develop good (I believe above average) analyical skills primarily in the math classes. Math requires to memorize very very few facts, the rest is derived from these very few facts. If one is doing the homework every day, then it is not possible NOT to remember these very few simple facts. I never used math for my work and was able to help my D. in HS, because I did not need to remember any of math. And yes, memory gets worse with age as mine did, while analytical ability is going up, I guess, the less of garbage we hold in our brain, the more of it is available for analysis. </p>