5 Tips to Improve in your Math this year

Are you set to improving your math in this new year? Is math a subject that has always been difficult for you ? Do you look at your math textbook and get overwhelmed?

Whether you love or hate maths, here are 5 sure tips that will promote better understanding in your mathematics.

Tip #1 : Be consistent.

Firstly, we need to understand that learning doesn't happen all at once. Reading your textbook cover to cover right before your exam will not gurantee you a passing grade.

There are three basic steps to learning; reading, understanding and practicing.

Step 1: Reading

In this stage, your aim is not understand but to familiarise yourself with the language used. Read through the pages and note the key words used in the questions, look at the diagrams and pictures, take note of the number of pages for the concepts. The main aim is to make the pages more familiar to you so that it does not overwhelm you as you move on to step 2 later. Things that are familiar are less scary. You should spend about 3 minutes to do this.

Step 2: Understanding

Now that you know how much work is cut out for you, you can move on to the next step on understanding. This is the most important stage in acquiring knowledge and must be done slowly and meticulously. Speeding through this stage will not help you and may cause more confusion in the long run. Go through each example carefully and highlight the steps that are crucial to the solution.

Step 3: Practice

This step must not be missed. Using your newfound knowledge, test yourself with practice questions to gauge your readiness in the concept. If you get stuck in the middle, you may look at the examples that you have written down in your notebook for help. Don't give up until you have found and gone through the solution. You may not get everything right but you must find out and correct your mistakes.

Tip #2: Create a 'My Little Math Notebook'

Use a notebook to heap all your learning in one place. This notebook should follow you from Secondary 1 to your graduating year and serves as a good method to recall your learning as you move on to the next year. It is important to remember that all learning since secondary one onwards will be tested in your O' Levels. It is essential that you keep a record of your learning so that you don't regret the time you have to waste to relearn everything especially when you are in upper secondary.

What to write in your notebook

Include

• concepts and methods

• basic questions that highlight the use of the method (include solution)

• Higher Order Thinking Questions (these can be added later when you find difficult questions that are frequently tested)

Tip #3 : Small steps is key

Be patient, no one becomes a mathematician overnight. When practicing, start with basic questions before moving on to the next stage. This will ensure a strong foundation and it will boost your confidence moving forwards. Organize your learning in small blocks and don't aim to finish a whole chapter in one day. Break it into smaller subtopics and work your way through them slowly.

Tip #4: Do not make excuses

In this day and age of distraction, it is easy to avert your attention span towards something else. It doesn't help when your fear of facing an unknown math concept tells your brain to run away as fast as possible. Even with a blocked out period to study math, when the time comes, most students will be more likely to procrastinate. You'll suddenly find the need to clean your bedroom, organise your school bag or make a sandwich in the kitchen. Do Not Make Excuses. When a fight or flight response appears, you should always choose fight in this case. Stick to your planned timetable. Everything else is a disraction and can be done later. If the fear is real, tell yourself that studying for 5 mins, 10 min or 20 mins now will help familiarise yourself with the page even if you won't fully understand the concept. This will help you in your future because every little bit counts. Most times after you have started, you'll continue beyond the 5 minutes. Turns out, you just have to get over the starting barrier.

Tip #5 : Look for help if required