HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN A MATH CLASS
Many students with histrionic abilities come to me at the end of the semester telling me that they need to pass the course to graduate, that this is their last class at CHS, that they need a good grade in order to keep or get a scholarship, etc. EVERY STUDENT WILL PASS THE MATH COURSE JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER STUDENT: through hard work—consistently doing the homework, classwork, religiously studying the lessons/notes, and through passing the exams. I am available to help your child during I & E, lunch, and sometimes, after school. Please ask to see if he/she has done the homework and/or reviewed the previous lessons on a DAILY BASIS. For the benefit of your son/daughter, we need to work together positively to help him/her have a successful and rewarding school year. If you will contact/ask me at the end of the semester what can we do to help your child, I believe that might be too late. Being successful in a math class is not easy. You may have to CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE! The most important factor to your success is YOU! You have to believe you can do it, and make a commitment to be successful. Making a commitment to do what it takes to pass your math class is the first step in being successful in math. Life is not fair! You may have to study twice as much to pass math as the person sitting next to you, especially if you forgot even the math basics. But that’s the way it is.
HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN A MATH CLASS
Q: I understood this stuff in class, but I can’t do my homework.
A: You may want to look at your note-taking skills. What is said in class may make perfect sense at the time, but no one has perfect memory. When you copy the problem and its solution down, make sure you write down the details and why certain steps are true, so that you can make sense of your notes later.
Q: I do take good notes and understand in class, but I can’t seem to start the homework.
A: Go over the notes over and over again. Try to make use of the various tutoring services offered on campus and/or office hours, to have someone help you get started. Once you can struggle on your own, you can then improve with additional individual practice.
Q: I thought I understood this stuff, but I did poorly on the exam, etc.
A: Maybe you DO understand it, but you lack the skill. Success in mathematics comes from understanding AND skill. Understanding comes from attending lecture, asking questions, and studying the material. Skill comes after understanding, and ONLY when you spend a significant amount of your own time working through practice problems. A teacher can give you understanding, but only YOU can give yourself the skill. Success on exams comes from having excellent skill.
Q: I actually do spend many hours working problems, but I still do poorly on exams.
A: The real test is whether you can successfully work problems start to finish WITHOUT looking at the book, looking at your notes, or asking someone for help. If you can not work problems without doing this, then you need to do a lot more problems of that type, until you can do them automatically without needing help. Everyone needs to spend a different amount of time to get to the “automatic stage”.
Q: I can do problems automatically, but get tripped up on tests.
A: Make sure when you work problems on your own to periodically mix them up so that you are not always doing just the problems from one particular section. You need to be able to do random problems, since an exam won’t tell you “what section it came from”. Actually, an effective way to practice for an exam is to pick random problems and do them WITHOUT book, notes, or helper to help you, and see if you can do them. Problems that you need help with, or problems you need to “look up” are problems you need to do a lot more of . . . to make them automatic.
Q: You don’t understand. I am doing all these things. My only problem seems to be with taking tests.
A: You may have test anxiety and haven't prepared well for the test. There are some things that you can do to help remedy this. Try these things:
Preparation: Knowing the test material as well as possible can increase self-confidence. Have necessary materials ready for the exam, like pencils, pens, calculator, paper, and any other materials you may need.
Caffeine: Eliminate this. You are anxious enough without adding more fuel to the fire.
Sugar: Don’t consume any refined sugar before a test.
Eating: Don’t skip meals, and make sure they are well-balanced.
Studying just before a test: Don’t! As a general rule, don’t study during the hour before the test. It rarely helps, except to increase your anxiety, and increase the likelihood of “blanking out”. It also serves to confuse you and tire you out before the test even begins.
Sleep: Make sure you are well-rested with a good nights sleep. Lack of sleep interferes with the cognitive processes necessary for performance on a test and interferes with memory and recall.
Cramming: Don’t! Try to spread your study sessions out over time. Long marathon sessions will often not help, and may actually make you do worse, as your tired brain confuses what it already knows.
Physical Activity: Cardiorespiratory activity helps to eliminate toxins in the body produced by excessive amounts of stress. A 20-min brisk walk before an exam can help induce relaxation and burn off anxiety.
Relaxation: Concentrated on staying relaxed. Practice abdominal breathing.
Other students/people: Ignore other people before the test. Don’t listen to other people talking about how well they know the material or people who ask last minute questions about the material.
Test-taking: Try to alternate answering easy questions with difficult questions to keep positive self-reinforcement.
Attitude I: Focus only on the present. Stay away from ideas of the future or past. Develop the attitude that a test is a challenge and opportunity for you to perform an intellectual exercise.
Attitude II: Avoid negative self-statements such as: “I don’t know this material”, “I should have studied harder”, “I’m going to do poorly”, “I’m not going to get an A.”
Attitude III: Use positive self-statements like: “I am relaxed and confident,” “I can do well”, “This test will be interesting”, “I can stay relaxed but alert during this exam”, “I know I can be successful.”
With proper preparation, many familiar stumbling blocks can be removed but it is important to maintain your optimism and stay current.
Attend All Classes: Missing one class can cause problems if a new concept is introduced. Make a point of attending all classes. If you must miss a class, see if you can attend another session or get help with the new topic from your teacher or classmate before the next class session.
Do All Assignments: Math is like a second language and must be practiced. So even though you may think you get a topic in class, make sure you do your homework to reinforce what you have learned or to find the areas you need to work on.
Do not take Short Cuts: It is important to completely work out every step of a problem, just one simple miscalculation can cause the answer to be incorrect. Additionally, if you get an answer wrong, do not make assumptions but rework the entire problem.
Ask Questions: The teacher is there to help you learn, so if something is unclear ask questions. Do not worry about feeling slow; there may be others in the class who are nervous about asking the same question.
Be Alert: You will not learn a thing if you sleep through class or are distracted. Be attentive and actively taking notes so that you are engaged for the entire class.
Do not Procrastinate: Trying to cram several lessons or chapters into one night is always a bad idea. Also doing your homework late at night, when you are tired, can be difficult. Tackle your homework right away so you are worry free before class.
PREPARING FOR TESTS / QUIZZES
Test time is especially difficult for many people; they may freeze up and stare at the page not recognizing a thing. Successful test taking comes from preparation and confidence.
Prepare Early: If all assignments are done correctly and you pay attention in every class you are already beginning the test preparation process. The day before test day is not the day to learn new concepts or play catch up.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE: Through your notes, text book, or online source you can find sample tests, so practice. Simulate test conditions and time yourself, if you are successful in a simulated test, you will gain confidence for the real thing.
Know your Teacher: Ask for his office hours, tutoring schedule, open time to help students. You may need to stay during I & E, brunch, lunch, or after school to have more time for math help.
Form a Study Group: If you are the type that learns well from others or by teaching others, forming a study group is a good idea. Try to find students that are as dedicated as you are and are willing to make the commitment to be successful.
Passing math takes work and sacrifice of your time. But once you make the decision to be successful and develop a plan to get the results you want and follow that plan, failure is impossible.
Many students with histrionic abilities come to me at the end of the semester telling me that they need to pass the course to graduate, that this is their last class at CHS, that they need a good grade in order to keep or get a scholarship, etc. EVERY STUDENT WILL PASS THE MATH COURSE JUST LIKE EVERY OTHER STUDENT: through hard work—consistently doing the homework, classwork, religiously studying the lessons/notes, and through passing the exams. I am available to help your child during I & E, lunch, and sometimes, after school. Please ask to see if he/she has done the homework and/or reviewed the previous lessons on a DAILY BASIS. For the benefit of your son/daughter, we need to work together positively to help him/her have a successful and rewarding school year. If you will contact/ask me at the end of the semester what can we do to help your child, I believe that might be too late. Being successful in a math class is not easy. You may have to CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE! The most important factor to your success is YOU! You have to believe you can do it, and make a commitment to be successful. Making a commitment to do what it takes to pass your math class is the first step in being successful in math. Life is not fair! You may have to study twice as much to pass math as the person sitting next to you, especially if you forgot even the math basics. But that’s the way it is.
- You MUST read the textbook!
- Be an active reader. Work through examples. Mark important terms, formulas.
- Read sections before you go to class. Don’t worry if you don’t understand all of it—the material will sound more familiar in the future.
- Put ? ? on the things you don’t understand. Ask questions in class if the ? ? have not been answered in lecture.
- Learn and practice good time management.
- Math requires regular DAILY practice and study.
- Make sure you have set aside time each day to study math.
- Math skills build on each other; it is sequential learning. If you don’t understand Chapter 1, then you may have difficulty understanding Chapter 2.
- You must practice math skills to be good at them. PRACTICE! PRACTICE! PRACTICE!
- Do not fall behind!
- Be an active participant—you can’t learn by simply watching.
- Go over class notes and homework right after class.
HOW TO BE SUCCESSFUL IN A MATH CLASS
Q: I understood this stuff in class, but I can’t do my homework.
A: You may want to look at your note-taking skills. What is said in class may make perfect sense at the time, but no one has perfect memory. When you copy the problem and its solution down, make sure you write down the details and why certain steps are true, so that you can make sense of your notes later.
Q: I do take good notes and understand in class, but I can’t seem to start the homework.
A: Go over the notes over and over again. Try to make use of the various tutoring services offered on campus and/or office hours, to have someone help you get started. Once you can struggle on your own, you can then improve with additional individual practice.
Q: I thought I understood this stuff, but I did poorly on the exam, etc.
A: Maybe you DO understand it, but you lack the skill. Success in mathematics comes from understanding AND skill. Understanding comes from attending lecture, asking questions, and studying the material. Skill comes after understanding, and ONLY when you spend a significant amount of your own time working through practice problems. A teacher can give you understanding, but only YOU can give yourself the skill. Success on exams comes from having excellent skill.
Q: I actually do spend many hours working problems, but I still do poorly on exams.
A: The real test is whether you can successfully work problems start to finish WITHOUT looking at the book, looking at your notes, or asking someone for help. If you can not work problems without doing this, then you need to do a lot more problems of that type, until you can do them automatically without needing help. Everyone needs to spend a different amount of time to get to the “automatic stage”.
Q: I can do problems automatically, but get tripped up on tests.
A: Make sure when you work problems on your own to periodically mix them up so that you are not always doing just the problems from one particular section. You need to be able to do random problems, since an exam won’t tell you “what section it came from”. Actually, an effective way to practice for an exam is to pick random problems and do them WITHOUT book, notes, or helper to help you, and see if you can do them. Problems that you need help with, or problems you need to “look up” are problems you need to do a lot more of . . . to make them automatic.
Q: You don’t understand. I am doing all these things. My only problem seems to be with taking tests.
A: You may have test anxiety and haven't prepared well for the test. There are some things that you can do to help remedy this. Try these things:
Preparation: Knowing the test material as well as possible can increase self-confidence. Have necessary materials ready for the exam, like pencils, pens, calculator, paper, and any other materials you may need.
Caffeine: Eliminate this. You are anxious enough without adding more fuel to the fire.
Sugar: Don’t consume any refined sugar before a test.
Eating: Don’t skip meals, and make sure they are well-balanced.
Studying just before a test: Don’t! As a general rule, don’t study during the hour before the test. It rarely helps, except to increase your anxiety, and increase the likelihood of “blanking out”. It also serves to confuse you and tire you out before the test even begins.
Sleep: Make sure you are well-rested with a good nights sleep. Lack of sleep interferes with the cognitive processes necessary for performance on a test and interferes with memory and recall.
Cramming: Don’t! Try to spread your study sessions out over time. Long marathon sessions will often not help, and may actually make you do worse, as your tired brain confuses what it already knows.
Physical Activity: Cardiorespiratory activity helps to eliminate toxins in the body produced by excessive amounts of stress. A 20-min brisk walk before an exam can help induce relaxation and burn off anxiety.
Relaxation: Concentrated on staying relaxed. Practice abdominal breathing.
Other students/people: Ignore other people before the test. Don’t listen to other people talking about how well they know the material or people who ask last minute questions about the material.
Test-taking: Try to alternate answering easy questions with difficult questions to keep positive self-reinforcement.
Attitude I: Focus only on the present. Stay away from ideas of the future or past. Develop the attitude that a test is a challenge and opportunity for you to perform an intellectual exercise.
Attitude II: Avoid negative self-statements such as: “I don’t know this material”, “I should have studied harder”, “I’m going to do poorly”, “I’m not going to get an A.”
Attitude III: Use positive self-statements like: “I am relaxed and confident,” “I can do well”, “This test will be interesting”, “I can stay relaxed but alert during this exam”, “I know I can be successful.”
With proper preparation, many familiar stumbling blocks can be removed but it is important to maintain your optimism and stay current.
Attend All Classes: Missing one class can cause problems if a new concept is introduced. Make a point of attending all classes. If you must miss a class, see if you can attend another session or get help with the new topic from your teacher or classmate before the next class session.
Do All Assignments: Math is like a second language and must be practiced. So even though you may think you get a topic in class, make sure you do your homework to reinforce what you have learned or to find the areas you need to work on.
Do not take Short Cuts: It is important to completely work out every step of a problem, just one simple miscalculation can cause the answer to be incorrect. Additionally, if you get an answer wrong, do not make assumptions but rework the entire problem.
Ask Questions: The teacher is there to help you learn, so if something is unclear ask questions. Do not worry about feeling slow; there may be others in the class who are nervous about asking the same question.
Be Alert: You will not learn a thing if you sleep through class or are distracted. Be attentive and actively taking notes so that you are engaged for the entire class.
Do not Procrastinate: Trying to cram several lessons or chapters into one night is always a bad idea. Also doing your homework late at night, when you are tired, can be difficult. Tackle your homework right away so you are worry free before class.
PREPARING FOR TESTS / QUIZZES
Test time is especially difficult for many people; they may freeze up and stare at the page not recognizing a thing. Successful test taking comes from preparation and confidence.
Prepare Early: If all assignments are done correctly and you pay attention in every class you are already beginning the test preparation process. The day before test day is not the day to learn new concepts or play catch up.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE: Through your notes, text book, or online source you can find sample tests, so practice. Simulate test conditions and time yourself, if you are successful in a simulated test, you will gain confidence for the real thing.
Know your Teacher: Ask for his office hours, tutoring schedule, open time to help students. You may need to stay during I & E, brunch, lunch, or after school to have more time for math help.
Form a Study Group: If you are the type that learns well from others or by teaching others, forming a study group is a good idea. Try to find students that are as dedicated as you are and are willing to make the commitment to be successful.
Passing math takes work and sacrifice of your time. But once you make the decision to be successful and develop a plan to get the results you want and follow that plan, failure is impossible.