How to do better at math?

[Hearts]

Hey all,
I'm kind of in a dark place atm lol.

My strong suit has never been maths, and for IB2 i've moved to math studies.
I need to lift my game, or i ultimately risk my entire diploma!

So, for all of you out there...
Anyone have any rags to riches (math style) stories that may inspire me?

Or, more importantly - ANY TIPS, OR ADVICE ON HOW SOMEONE CAN BECOME BETTER AT MATH!?

SOS

[cricketcrazynerd]

PRACTISE!!!! Do past paper questions, questions from the textbook... Practise is the key

[Guest Positron]

There is a simple three step method to success in math. This is how it looks like:

1. Practice

2. Practice

3. Practice

But seriously, try to understand the concepts. Use some extra time for studying the theory so you understand how each method works and the reason why it works the way it does. After that applying your knowledge is much easier. Often it's also helpful to just stop and think "What exactly is it that this question is asking? How does it link to what we have learned in class? Which methods did we use in class to solve a similar problem?"

+ Khan academy videos are usually great. https://www.khanacademy.org/

Edited March 31, 2013 by Positron

[ChocolateDrop]

Familiarise yourself with the syllabus, it's quite different from SL and HL. From the textbook, I've noticed there seems to be an emphasis on GDC usage more so than HL/ SL ergo it would be advisable to brush up on your GDC skills. You'll probably have to do a fair bit of self-teaching, but luckily you're born in the internet age you've got youtube videos for that!

Here's a channel that has some GDC dedicated videos:

http://www.youtube.com/user/ibpodcasting

Just youtube specific topics if they're not covered.

Studies also covers other material not covered in the other HL/ SL such as the chi squared test, so you'll need to find out exactly what these uncovered topics are and cover them.

MIT opencourseware and Khan academy's youtube videos may help you.

[Yahooo!]

I'm in Maths Studies am predicted a 7. I just am making sure that I know how to use the calculator in the best possible way and doing as many past papers as I can. I bought a book from Amazon, I think it is the Oxford textbook and that is really really helping. It has a calculator section where it shows you everything that can be done on the caluclator, loads of questions, and good explanations. When doing my past papers, the questions I can't do, I leave them out and then I go through the book learning how to do those questions, going through the questions in the book before answering the question on paper.

[Hearts]

That's definitely true. Calculator is a major component!
Just wondering, have you used the other Math Studies textbook? the orange haese and harris one - is that different to the oxford book you have, cause that's the one i've got?

[Hearts]

Practise and more practise it is! :/ no way around pure dedication!

thanks all

[Yahooo!]

I have the orange one, and I have the Oxford one which is like a pink colour.

[alefal]

Hey there!

I'm sorry to hear you struggle so much with maths! Luckily, in maths studies we can use calculator for both papers, which is very helpful. I think Yahooo! covered most of my points as well. Learn your calculator well, and familiarise yourself with the topics by doing a lot of questions. Maths isn't my strongest subject either, but I am on the borderland between a 6 and a 7 - much thanks to a lot of repetition. Do a lot of paper 1s and paper 2s, and take note of what you struggle with. Figure out what you've been doing wrong, and do the question again. Also make sure you familiarise yourself with the booklet, and learn the formulas that aren't listed there.

I think this is the book Yahooo! was talking about (?). We use that book in my class, and although it has its flaws (the key doesn't always correspond to the questions, for instance), it is quite good. There is a decent chapter dedicated to learning the calculator, which is a big plus for learning how to use it. Additionally, it has some paper 1 and paper 2 questions in the end of each chapter, which are good for revision.

Is there anything in particular that you struggle with?

[Yahooo!]

I'm currently using: http://www.amazon.com/Mathematical-Studies-Standard-Level-International/dp/0198390130/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1364748804&sr=1-1&keywords=mathematical+studies. I was given the one alefal mentioned by school... I thought exactly the same

[~Lc~]

This math Professor at Uni told me that most people who are not good at math were told at a young age that they cannot do it, and just given up on it. Math is a lot about intuition and confidence. To build that you need to keep practicing. It's like learning coordination, the first few times you don't really know what you're doing and then it all starts to come naturally.

Hope that's inspiration enough for you!

Goodluck.

[Sandwich]

I don't exactly have a rags to riches story but I went from a predicted 4 to a 6 on the final exam for Maths SL so I would say I managed to pull my game up a bit! I think the things which helped me most were:

1. My portfolio being strong - this can really help save or break your grades, in my case it saved it.

2. Learning how to use the calculator well, as others have said. I bought the OSC Calculator Guide and it taught me quite a lot of stuff, although I did find myself hopelessly lost in the non-calculator paper!

3. PRACTICE. Before the Maths exam I spent about 3 days just doing past paper after past paper after past paper and pretending all my exams in other subjects didn't exist. Also in the month before I'd been doing past papers and really bugging my maths teacher to explain all of the stuff to me to the point where I think she thought I was a moron.

I found Maths impossibly hard and was totally incapable of retaining any of it. I spent the 3 days pre-my exam integrating and doing derivatives, including the half an hour before the exam, then I got into the exam and realised I'd forgotten all of the rules and couldn't answer a single question on derivation or integration. I still remembered enough rules for other topics to get a 6, though! Perseverance and really flogging yourself = the magic formula, essentially. That, calculator skills and the portfolio helped improve my grade by quite a bit. I nearly drove myself crazy working so hard on a subject I hated so much but the outcome was worth it. Most of the hard work was driven by the fact I thought I might get a 2 and fail my diploma all due to Maths, to be fair! A misplaced but highly useful fear for motivation, as it turned out.

[Erudite]

PRACTICE!!

Open up past exam papers and start doing as many problems as you can! I'm doing Maths HL and while it is challenging, I stay on top of it with regular and consistent practice! I usually spend 4 hours every Saturday morning (outside of regular schoolwork for Maths) doing 5 years' worth of past exam papers' questions for whatever we've been studying in class. If we haven't covered enough in class on a particular new chapter, I teach myself the next bits necessary that we will be covering in the weeks to come and basically hound my Maths teacher for extra practice sheets/problems/exercises for our current schoolwork.

At this point, I'm quite sure my Maths teacher hates the very sight of me!

But the secret is PRACTICE PRACTICE and just when you think you're done, MORE PRACTICE!

[The Rainbow Connection]

Also try to do well in your internal assessment as it would hopefully push your grade up as well If you've had/or when you have your first exam for maths for a trial or practice, look at your key areas of weaknesses and focus a lot on them in particular. Try and find questions specifically for those topics so you gain more confidence in those areas. And as all above have said, learn your calculator! It is an invaluable tool

[flinquinnster]

I think most people have already offered the crucial advice: practice. So with that in my mind, I will try and offer my own 'rags to riches' story that will be slightly embellished of course, but hopefully interesting.

I never liked maths before starting IB. I found the teaching of it boring, dull and generally uninspiring. And furthermore, I was never very good at the extended logical processes associated with maths. However, I convinced myself to do Maths HL (along with some healthy pressure from friends and family), even though I was very, very close to dropping it. However, I ended up quite enjoying our classes, and the fast pace of learning. I'd look forward (and still do... HA, most of the time, not all the time) to doing my maths homework every moment I had spare time - when I don't have work for maths like now, I start feeling funny.

The point is, you don't need to be a maths genius to pass maths. You just need to do practice all the time. So do it! Do the practice and pretend you enjoy it. I sometimes think of maths in terms of instant gratification and positive reinforcement. Do a couple of questions at a time, and if you get them all right, treat yourself to a chocolate/youtube video/reward of your choice. It's shallow, ego-boosting stuff, but hopefully it will motivate you. After all, you want to train yourself to be a competent computational monkey who knows how to wield a GDC, that's all. That's true even for Maths HL (most of the time!) and even more true for Studies.

Also, be cheerful that you only need to get around 80% for a 7 in Studies - and really, you only need to get a 3 or above to get your diploma

[~Lc~]

On another hand OP, try this website out:

http://www.mathcentre.ac.uk/

It breaks down math per topic, and has videos for you to look through

[bale]

The most important thing in math is to know the concepts, then once you have accuiered the knowledge practice questions similar to the IB or even harder...At least that is what my teacher suggested to me, and remember there are tons of videos in youtube and Khan academy that can help you review the things which you are having most difficulty with.

But you must remember math is more about the intuition itself, if you get the hang of concepts then questions that before seemed really hard will now seem really easy. However you must PRACTICE.

[IBTutorOnline]

If you want a rags to riches story:

I took Math HL (examinations 2007) and for the first year and a half I was one of the worst students in the class (averaging 4/5 on tests and mocks). I kept at it because I needed Math HL for university (and I needed a 7!). In the final four months before exams I got my hands on literally every single past paper for the last 10 years (1997 onwards) and made sure I did each and every question, under exam conditions. Then I went through the markschemes. With each paper I felt I was getting more and more confident. Practice is everything when it comes to success in IB Maths. Just keep doing questions until you start seeing them in your sleep. If you know math is your achilles heel, then you can look at spending 60-80% of your total IB revision on it - which is what I basically had to do. It all paid off as I just scraped a 7!

Best of luck!

Edited April 2, 2013 by AZouev

[ibdoom]

Hi,

I would like to hear people's advice on how to go about studying for the Math Studies final exam which is coming up soon. I usually study from the textbook which is pretty old and often find that past papers are much harder than the content found in the textbook. I also have the IB Math Studies Guide and the Oxford Revision Guide.

I'd just like to know where I should start studying, what book should I use and how should I go about doing so.

Any help is much appreciated

Thanks,

[dreamer96]

hi,

i really think that you should go through the textbook and make notes on each chapter- how to solve certain problems, rules, etc.- with examples!

You can revise with that then, but with math practice is always necessary so you should do all the revision sections as well.

But, I've noticed the questions on tests/exams are very different from the textbook questions, so you should download past papers and get the answers online, print them or work off them online!

Hope this helps!

Good luck!