this will probably come off as rambley, forgive me. I am a sophomore currently taking Algebra 2/Trig, and I hate it. I’ve always been a B and C student in math, but I’m finding it hard to even get a C in this class. We don’t have a textbook, just problem lists so any on-your-own study has to be done by random internet searches. My teacher is unhelpful in class-- all she does is write on the board and lecture, and then give us problems, which I usually don’t understand. So the thing to do would be to ask questions, right? But If I ask her a question she huffs and puffs while explaining it, and says things like “you should already know this” and “why don’t you understand this” and “we went over this several times” instead of being encouraging or kind. She gets visibly angry/annoyed when I ask for clarifications. As frustrating as she is in class, she’s even worse one-on-one. First of all, she only has 40 minute office hours twice a week, during very busy times. When I can go in for office hours, she does the same things she does in class (gets frustrated, makes unhelpful remarks) only there’s nobody else to kind of dampen it. I feel stupid, and useless. I end up trying to do the homework when I get home and feeling hopeless and worthless. I try my best at it, but when I return it the next day, I get .5/1 because the only two grades she gives on homework are .5 and 1. The worst part is, she says that she gives full credit for work that looks like you tried, but when I give my best, I do so badly it looks like I didn’t try at all. I seriously hate myself in her class, and it makes me wonder if there’s any point to taking pre-calc next year or if I should just take Statistics and no math senior year. As hard as I try, I just can’t do anything in this class, and with 5 weeks left in the semester I’m worried about keeping my C grade. Any tips would be appreciated. Please don’t judge me for being bad at math, or think I don’t try.
I would talk to your parents about this and also maybe your guidance counselor. I find it strange that you don’t have a text book. Also talk to the Guidance counselor/Parents about how you ask for help and are not getting it.
It could be that she is a bad teacher .
I would suggest looking at Khan Academy for videos on the subject…also see if you can get a tutor at school (National Honor Society usually does tutoring). Also form a study group with other classmates. See if your parents will order you a book where you can do extra problems.
Algebra 2 is a pretty simple course, I would recommend buying a blitzer book for algebra and trig. What exactly are you having trouble with?
Algebra and trig are subjects where what you learn this week is high dependent upon what you learned last week and last year. Similarly, what you are going to learn next year is going to be dependent upon what you learned this year. As such, once you start to fall behind it can be very difficult to catch up by yourself.
Relatively little future work is going to depend much on trigonometry. However, if you have any interest in STEM fields then a LOT (almost everything) is going to depend upon what you learn in algebra.
As such keeping up is very important. If you have a bad teacher, then it is important to get outside help. A tutor can be very helpful in math. In some cases there might even be another high school student who could be a tutor (and less expensive than a professional tutor). I know of cases of high school teachers (current or former) who do tutoring to augment their salary. There are a lot of tutors, and if one doesn’t seem right then you can try a different one.
From what I have seen and what you have said, “trying hard” is probably not the issue. The issue is most likely related to how you look at problems and how you understand various concepts. If the teacher can’t get this across well then you probably need a tutor. I have seen some cases where students could use a tutor for perhaps an hour a week for the full academic year. I have seen other cases where the student figures out in just a few (single digit) hours what they were missing, and then goes on and does quite well.
@booper I go to an experimental school, so the math curriculum is one that the department wrote themselves, and there are no written explanations of content, just problems. The curriculum is also very eclectic which is part of what makes this hard-- we have aspects of Algebra 2/Trig/Advanced Geometry/Pre-Calc/Statistics. I will be meeting with my parents and teacher on Monday so that should be good.
@Bobbybob444555 Thanks for that comment about Alg 2 being pretty simple. Really appreciate it. I’ll look into a blitzer book. Most of my troubles lie in trigonometry–remembering identities and the like.
@DadTwoGirls Yeah, I missed a couple days in January and I think they’re still messing me up. I have no desire to go into STEM, the fields I’m most interested in are (art) history, foreign languages, and literature. But I still want to be good at math. I have an interest in philosophy, and I think math can be really cool, I liked it up until this year despite not being great at it. I’m definitely looking into a tutor for these next few weeks.
@bella22 Just try and get the C. It’s pretty easy on basically every grading system. Don’t stress yourself out, it’s not like you’re going to be a math major. Just use slader for hw.
I’m also a sophomore in high school, and I took Algebra 2/Trig last year – if you need any help with homework or concepts feel free to PM me! As far as bad teachers go, I definitely understand where you’re coming from; I’ve had my fair share of bad math teachers too.
What I did was go on Khan Academy (dunno if you’ve tried this, but it was pretty helpful at explaining concepts for me) then doing problems! Since you don’t have a textbook, maybe try googling “____ worksheets” for your concepts and attempting those, before checking your work! Doing problems on Khan can work well too, since it ties up nicely with their explanations. You don’t even have to go in order, I have a weird math curriculum and just watched the videos that seemed relevant to my class! A tutor may be good if you’ve got the resources for that, but good tutors are (in my experience) as hard to cone by as good teachers are, so tread lightly. Find someone with past experience teaching students from your school (preferably) or is familiar with the curriculum in your class.
Definitely try and push through this year, you don’t want to discount math at first sight; it may seem difficult at first, but it indeed is rewarding! (Take this with a grain of salt, I’m a potential math major lol) Best of luck! 
If the teacher isn’t helpful, consider reaching out to another teacher in the math department. Also, consider forming a study group with your classmates. It’s a great opportunity for you to learn the material you’re struggling with and a great way for the people who are “getting it” to review the material themselves by teaching.
@bella22 That cirriculum isn’t a big deal. We have that in my school and I’m getting As
@Bobbybob444555 But not all students are built the same; just because you’re getting As doesn’t mean there isn’t anything wrong about the curriculum. Your achievement doesn’t tell us anything about OP’s situation – I don’t see your point.
In addition to Khan Academy, SchoolYourself has some good videos and info. https://schoolyourself.org/learn
If you decide to move forward with pre-calc, you may want to pre-take the class online over the summer so that much of the material next year is review. Edx is another good, free, source for math education
https://www.edx.org/course/precalculus-asux-mat170x
@VaporeonKid getting a C in an algebra 2 course doesn’t look impressive, at all. it is a basic course no matter the curriculum. Trigonometry, elementary statistics and precalculus are no big deal and they should be in algebra 2.
Not trying to be critical of OP but come on, everybody has tough teachers.
@Bobbybob444555 If all you’re going to say is that OP shouldn’t be having trouble, please go do that somewhere else, because it’s worse than unhelpful, it’s actually damaging. I had a discouraging teacher for Algebra 2, struggled a bit, and am now a junior in Chemical Engineering with a 3.96. It’s okay to struggle. Doesn’t mean you’ll struggle forever or that you’re bad at the subject.
“No big deal,” “basic course,” “come on,” “I got an A” – all mean nothing to OP’s situation.
@Bobbybob444555
“Getting a C in an Algebra 2 course doesn’t look impressive, at all.”
Not all people want to be ‘impressive’ in math, you can’t assume that a C isn’t good score in the OP’s situation. As @bodangles said, this isn’t the place to bash other people for their abilities (or lack thereof). You’re not in their position, so telling them to “come on” and buckle up may be a bit insensitive when you don’t know the extent of the problem.
If your teachers won’t help, take matters into your own hands. Use Khan Academy, since it’s a pretty good resource, or see if a friend who understands the concepts can help you.
@VaporeonKid @bodangles sometimes you have to be critical to someone to help them. Kids at my school quit trying in their math class, get Cs and Ds just because the teacher is bad. I’m just suggesting to OP to be persistent. if one person could do it everyone can.
@Bobbybob444555 You’re a freshman and it shows through your condescending comments towards OP. Hop off your high horse and accept the fact that other people will struggle in the things you find ‘simple’. Algebra II is not a simple course for some. I know many people struggling to maintain a C average in that class in my school right now. Your mentality of “if one person can do it, everyone can do it” is beyond my comprehension. Think before you post something, it is agitating to see others belittle people that are struggling with something they put a lot of effort into.
I had similar problems in Algebra 2 in HS and Macroecon in college. The teachers had the same reaction to my questions as yours. They were lousy teachers. Talk to your guidance counselor about tutoring or extra help that someone in your school can provide. Maybe you could pay a fellow student who is doing well to tutor you. Good luck and don’t bother with that nasty teacher anymore.
@bella22 I understand where you are coming from. I am usually a great math student, but algebra 2 this year was hard to adjust to. Like your school, my school has a different curriculum than most schools. We are encouraged to figure out how to solve things ourselves, which is really tough. One thing that really helped me this year was YouTube. I can not stress this enough: YOUTUBE HAS SAVED MY GRADE!!! There are amazing algebra 2 videos. Just type in the unit you are on, and a bunch of videos on that topic should come up.
I also use Kahn Academy, but their videos are hard to follow, so I mostly just use their practice problems.