Mathematics is one of the subjects that most students complain about worldwide. In addition to it being challenging, students who do not love it often struggle with it and face high stress during exams. Unfortunately, this is not a subject that you can run away from if you want to do well in school. Regardless of your level, you will engage with mathematics as a subject or incorporate it into other subjects. How do you study math and pass exams?
There is good news for all students who face this challenge. All you need is to put in a little more work. First, you can enrol in our math tuition classes at the Physics Café for personalized tutoring. Maths has special vocabulary, symbols, and concepts that you need to understand to do well.
Tips to Study Math Effectively
Make a Math Study Schedule
One of the things you learn when you enrol for secondary maths tuition is how to create a study schedule. Mathematics requires constant practice to internalize the concepts. However, you can only internalize those concepts if you are making time to study them. Therefore, you need to make a weekly study schedule. Most students often fill all their study time on the weekdays and neglect to study during the weekend. This tactic is not effective if you want to do well in mathematics. Ensure you slot in some study time during the weekend to improve your skills.
Remember, it is important to study math daily, even if you do it only for 30 minutes. Since you have other subjects to consider, think carefully about your time as you create this schedule. When studying for one or two days consecutively, you can take breaks in between and also allot time for other subjects. You can have an in-depth conversation with your O-level math tutor if you have challenges balancing your time.
Keep a Mathematics Notebook
We remember and internalize something if we write it down. However, you also need to balance taking notes during class and listening to the teacher. In addition, writing things down allows you to go over the material when studying for tests or during your chosen math study time. Remember, most teachers can discuss important concepts and formulas and fail to advise you to write them down during the class.
Ensure you are focusing your attention on noting down important concepts and formulas the teachers discuss. Add any explanatory information given by the teacher. As they will guide you go through the notes later. If your teacher says something that you do not understand, ask for clarification. Having a notebook also helps you understand your areas of weakness which you can discuss with your teacher. If you are attending additional mathematics tuition classes, you can discuss them with your tutor for better understanding.
Immediately your class ends, do not get up and start socializing with your friends. Instead, take time to go through the notes again, ensuring you internalize and understand all the instructor taught while the information is still fresh in your mind. As a result, you will improve your problem-solving skills.
Understand the Concepts
Maths is a cumulative subject. Everything you learn in math, you will build on it in your next levels. For this reason, it is important to understand how each concept works—memorizing processes in mathematics is counter-productive.
If you want to be an A student in maths, you need to understand the logic and the processes involved. A strong foundation in mathematics forms good grounds for success. What you learnt at lower levels will be important when you get to the JC level. Students with a shaky foundation can benefit from the services of a private math tutor. A tutor can offer personalized attention where they can focus on the weak areas and re-teach you the basics.
In mathematics, you need to know how to use formulas effectively and apply them if you want to achieve success. Furthermore, understanding the restrictions some of the formulas pose helps you learn how to use them appropriately. Therefore, forming a good friendship with mathematics early on enables you to gain and improve the necessary skills.
Practice, Practice
The maths subject is unlike most. You cannot just read and listen to understand it. You need to do more practice. Start solving math problems now if you want to understand and internalize the basic concepts. Your teachers and maths tutors will also tell you the same thing.
Each mathematics problem has different characteristics. The more you practice solving many problems, the more familiar you become with these problems. You exercise your muscle memory every time you work on these problems. When you start learning a new concept, the best way to reinforce the information is by practising.
Additionally, practising lets you become more skilled in knowing the necessary steps to solve a problem. You also understand why each step is necessary. It also gives you a confidence boost which helps you study math effectively.
When it comes to the exams, your brain will also quickly figure out the best way to address the problem. Moreover, practising makes you more prepared during exam time, which calms your nerves. Do your homework and attempt the problems in your textbooks to help you practice. You learn mathematics by doing.
Be an Active Participant to Improve Recall
When you participate in class, you promote learning and the ability to internalize information. Whether you have the best A-level maths tutor or have the best teachers, they cannot do active learning for you. You can only do this by yourself. However, you can have public or private participation to improve your recall abilities.
During public participation, you can ask or answer questions in class. You can also engage in class discussions and collaborate with other students when solving math problems. For private participation, you can keep your mind engaged. If you feel uncomfortable participating in class or the environment is prohibitive, you can engage your mind and actively channel your own learning. After class, you can talk to the teacher, join a small study group, or enrol for mathematics tuition.
However, whether you are vocal in class or not, there are things that you can do to prepare for each math class. First, read the chapter or section from which the teacher will teach. Doing this gives you prior knowledge of the class. Next, re-read and recopy notes in the previous section, which will help you cement the information. Re-write the major formulas that you may need for that class. When the class starts, stay engaged by writing notes and ask questions if any arise.
Write the mathematical procedures
When practising and doing your homework, writing down the procedures, you use to complete the questions is an effective math study method. Often, you will find various methods and formulas that you can use to solve the problems. As you continue to write what you are doing, you increase your chances of remembering. However, once you internalize the formula, you do not have to write it down all the time you use it.
Pay keen attention to the instructions in the textbooks on how to complete the exercises. Often these instructions use special vocabulary that you need to know if you want to do well in mathematics. If it says solve or simplify, remember to do just that. Keep in mind the directions or instructions written change.
Additionally, once you do your homework, you need to summarize the concepts and procedures. Write these procedures in your own words as it will help you solidify your understanding. You can use index cards to write down this summary. They are portable, and you can look at them whenever you have a little more time.
You can also create a mathematics dictionary using notes or flashcards. They can contain all the concepts, definitions, and terminology that you need to know. Including meaning, key points and some sample answers can help foster your understanding of the maths subject.
Have a Distraction-Free Study Environment
You need to avoid all distractions when studying mathematics. Maths requires all your attention and concentration. An ideal study environment for math is distraction-free as it allows you to solve complex algebraic problems. When you study in a relaxing environment, you can stimulate the flow of information. Additionally, you can have some suitable background music that can foster concentration, preferably instrumental.
Conclusion
If you want to study mathematics effectively, you can engage a maths tutor. However, you also need to do most of the work if you want to ace your exams. Students who make time to study mathematics daily have better results as they familiarize themselves with many problems, concepts, and formulas.