To 10 techniques to become better at math
TOP 10 TIPS TO BECOME BETTER AT MATH
Math comes off as an exceedingly difficult subject for many people and students.
This is especially because many students are forced to take math as a compulsory subject.
It makes sense that schools force students to take math, this mainly because if you haven’t already heard, math is applied to almost everything in our daily life.
I had struggled with math for many stressful years but I managed to figure out different strategies that greatly ameliorated my math skills.
I will gratefully share all my techniques as well as scientifically proven strategies to become a pro at math.
1. DO NOT MISS A SINGLE MATH LESSON.
I CANNOT stress this enough! Math is such a complex subject that it would be a REALLY difficult task to try and teach yourself the content that you’ve missed.
Not only this, but Math classes move very fast and if you keep on missing classes, you will end up with something that I like to call “mind gaps”.
These are gaps on particular topics or problems in math.
Because you’ve missed that specific lesson, you will have a difficult time applying that specific concept into many math problems.
For example; let’s say you’ve missed the lesson on algebraic fractions. If you don’t bother PROPERLY catching up, you will continuously struggle in every aspect of algebraic fractions.
Any question in the exam that contains algebraic fractions will prove to be difficult to you.
This will result in losing marks.
This will greatly affect your overall performance. If you do end up missing classes, please make sure to catch up!
DO PRACTICE QUESTIONS OR PAST PAPERS CONSISTENTLY.
This is the BEST technique that I have used hands down for mastering math.
Because of how incredibly EFFECTIVE it has been on my account; I believe it’s one of the best methods you could possibly use.
This method is highly effective because it gets you used to the questions.
In GCSE math, the questions always repeat themselves constantly, but the only difference is the way in which they are stated.
If you master past papers then you are already capable of solving most of the questions that are to come.
The same goes for practice questions, these help to improve and build your math skills significantly.
The more questions you attempt, the better at math you will be.
Practice makes perfect.
DO YOUR HOMEWORK!
Homework gives you a better understanding of what you were taught in school (that topic).
I genuinely feel as though homework lets you sit down and analyze your work to truly get what you are doing, it’s just like practice.
If you cheat on homework please stop! Homework is very helpful whether you like it or not so always put in a lot of work and effort into it, because long term it’s actually pretty helpful.
ALWAYS GET HELP!
People are always afraid to ask for help when they need it and this is so very wrong.
Don’t shy away from asking for help. If you are struggling to do something, make sure you go to someone who is capable and ask them to help you.
If you don’t, you will never realize your mistakes and you will never learn from them, and you ALWAYS have to learn from your mistakes.
MAKE NOTES!
You might have not heard of this one but I used this technique myself and it worked like a charm.
Like how you take notes in other subjects, it important to take notes on math as well.
The best thing about math is that notes on topics will be quite short because math is mainly calculations.
Below is an example of my own notes:
But, since math is mainly calculations it will be sort of a task trying to figure out what to write in your math notes.
In the end, this method is highly effective as you will be able to go back to them and revise quite quickly than you would’ve if you were revising through a text book or your exercise book that is mainly filled with calculations instead of step by step instructions on how to get the concept.
DO NOT STOP IF YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND A QUESTION!
I used to stop, and boy was I wrong.
A question could look so substantially arduous and complex while its actually pretty straightforward.
That’s why many people fail in math.
They look at a question and assume it’s too hard and that they don’t have the level of intellectuality needed to solve it.
That shouldn’t be done because all you need to do is just look at the question with different perspectives and throw on it different problem solving techniques and figure out which one works the best.
Always make sure to check for everything! If it’s a geometry question make sure to add all geometrical problem-solving techniques you’ve learnt in order to find the one that fits best.
Skipping a question just because it “looks hard” is a terrible reason, and it results in losing marks that you could’ve easily or not easily acquired.
Math doesn’t have to be difficult; you just have to be good at analyzing and changing perspectives.
LEARN THE BASICS!
When I say basics I mean simple math stuff like: the multiplication table, Areas of different shapes, Formulas etc.
These BASICS are applied in many questions so if you understand them then you already have a boost at solving a difficult question.
MASTER THE CALCULATOR.
First off, don’t be TOO dependent on a calculator.
Secondly, it’s immensely important to know every function of a calculator.
This is due to the fact there are numerous questions that you could just simply input in a calculator and acquire the answer instead of struggling with using your mind, getting a small part of the solution wrong that will ultimately result in a wrong final answer.
Calculators are a lot more useful than you think and teachers don’t share the full parts of a calculator for a reason.
Don’t worry about how you will learn the calculator’s functions; click here or here to watch a YouTube video that teaches all functions of a calculator.
WATCH YOUTUBE VIDEOS!
It’s very effective to learn a topic at school and then go over it again through a YouTube video.
This greatly improves your overall understanding of the topic and gives you additional information that could be substantially useful.
The greatest part is that math resources are widely available all over YouTube and the internet.
I personally can recommend a ton of YouTube channels that are and were really helpful to me.
Some of my favorite math YouTube channels are:
ALWAYS DO YOUR MATH PROBLEMS IN PENCIL!
Mathematical calculations are trial and error. If you use a pen there will be a great deal of a mess that not even you will understand your work.
One of my favorite pencils to use are mechanical pencils, specifically the Staedtler 0.5mm mechanical pencil.
Mechanical pencils are much smoother and cleaner to use although they cost a bit more than normal pencils.
Either way you can use any pencil that you prefer just as long as it’s not a pen.
Remember, math requires all the effort and time that you can give it. Math is pretty simple if you can learn how to properly apply concepts because as one of my teachers said, “math is the easiest subject because it tells you exactly how to solve a question”.
Always be confident in yourself and NEVER GIVE UP!
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