How do I get better at math?

[MajorProcrastinator]

Hey,

 

I am currently doing the PreIB, and I'm having lots of trouble understanding math and following in class even though the countless hours of practicing at home. I really want to take HL maths next year but at the moment I have a weak 5 (out of 6) and I feel like I could do so much better. Obviously practicing hasn't really worked out for me, what should I do to become better?

 

 

p.s. I might have posted this in the wrong subforum, sorry.

Edited December 14, 2014 by MajORProcastinatOR

[nina101]

If you regret taking the IB already in pre-IB, I don't think that it is a good idea to continue the course. Pre-IB is just a warm-up. Anyway, what subjects do you do at Math right now? (Perhaps these are IB1/2 thigs which may seem hard if introduced to early)

[ellie]

If you have trouble understanding, khanacademy.org is a WONDERFUL place to find help from -- they have many Math videos that are great to watch. I suck hard at Math, but these videos help a bit.

[Vioh]

Hey,

I am currently doing the PreIB, and I'm having lots of trouble understanding math and following in class even though the countless hours of practicing at home. I really want to take HL maths next year but at the moment I have a weak 5 (out of 6) and I feel like I could do so much better. Obviously practicing hasn't really worked out for me, what should I do to become better?

p.s. I might have posted this in the wrong subforum, sorry.

 

Practice always makes perfect, especially for maths. Maybe you just haven't made your practice effective enough. Or maybe you haven't even understood the theory before doing the practice questions. There might be 2 reasons why you can't solve a math question in IB:

1. You haven't understood the concepts --> to fix this: read your book, ask your teacher, & make your own study guide

2. You haven't fully remembered the concepts --> to fix this: PRACTICE, do hard questions, have your study guide with you while you do practice questions

 

So my general advices are:

 

1. Make sure you completely understand a concept before doing any practice questions at all. Go through the chapter in your book several time and make sure that you can understand everything that the chapter contains. Better, you should make a study guide for each and every chapter. This is probably the most important tip. Making a study guide by yourself would help you to reorganize the stuff that you've just learnt in a way that you can understand. It encourages you to think deeply about the concepts, and thus transforming passive knowledge from books & lectures into active knowledge in your study guide.

 

2. Try all the questions in the book. With easy questions, just do them on draft papers and then throw away. However with hard questions, always mark them down by writing full solutions in your notebook, and then do them over again once every 2 months or something for maximum memory.

 

3. Choose very hard questions to do. Don't waste your valuable time spending the entire evening doing easy questions. Hard questions challenge you, thus helping you to improve yourself. Also, always try very hard on the difficult questions. Spend 2 hours solving it if you must. Only look at the worked solution from your textbook if you have spent like more than 2 days on it

 

Lastly, you're only in preIB, so give yourself a bit of time. Be patient! Being good at something takes lots of work and dedication, not just a few months of focusing. It takes IB students 2 years to get their wanted 7. Thus working regularly everyday for the entire 2 years is so much better than spending hours in a few weeks and then giving up after that. Remember that preIB is the fun time of your life, so do enjoy it before you're going to the IB hell

[MajorProcrastinator]

 

Hey,

I am currently doing the PreIB, and I'm having lots of trouble understanding math and following in class even though the countless hours of practicing at home. I really want to take HL maths next year but at the moment I have a weak 5 (out of 6) and I feel like I could do so much better. Obviously practicing hasn't really worked out for me, what should I do to become better?

p.s. I might have posted this in the wrong subforum, sorry.

 

Practice always makes perfect, especially for maths. Maybe you just haven't made your practice effective enough. Or maybe you haven't even understood the theory before doing the practice questions. There might be 2 reasons why you can't solve a math question in IB:

1. You haven't understood the concepts --> to fix this: read your book, ask your teacher, & make your own study guide

2. You haven't fully remembered the concepts --> to fix this: PRACTICE, do hard questions, have your study guide with you while you do practice questions

 

So my general advices are:

 

1. Make sure you completely understand a concept before doing any practice questions at all. Go through the chapter in your book several time and make sure that you can understand everything that the chapter contains. Better, you should make a study guide for each and every chapter. This is probably the most important tip. Making a study guide by yourself would help you to reorganize the stuff that you've just learnt in a way that you can understand. It encourages you to think deeply about the concepts, and thus transforming passive knowledge from books & lectures into active knowledge in your study guide.

 

2. Try all the questions in the book. With easy questions, just do them on draft papers and then throw away. However with hard questions, always mark them down by writing full solutions in your notebook, and then do them over again once every 2 months or something for maximum memory.

 

3. Choose very hard questions to do. Don't waste your valuable time spending the entire evening doing easy questions. Hard questions challenge you, thus helping you to improve yourself. Also, always try very hard on the difficult questions. Spend 2 hours solving it if you must. Only look at the worked solution from your textbook if you have spent like more than 2 days on it

 

Lastly, you're only in preIB, so give yourself a bit of time. Be patient! Being good at something takes lots of work and dedication, not just a few months of focusing. It takes IB students 2 years to get their wanted 7. Thus working regularly everyday for the entire 2 years is so much better than spending hours in a few weeks and then giving up after that. Remember that preIB is the fun time of your life, so do enjoy it before you're going to the IB hell

 

Thing is I ask my teacher about so many things it's starting to get somewhat awkward :/

[MajorProcrastinator]

If you regret taking the IB already in pre-IB, I don't think that it is a good idea to continue the course. Pre-IB is just a warm-up. Anyway, what subjects do you do at Math right now? (Perhaps these are IB1/2 thigs which may seem hard if introduced to early)

I just finished doing equation of line, distance points between y and x, and started doing factorisation and surds

[nina101]

 

If you regret taking the IB already in pre-IB, I don't think that it is a good idea to continue the course. Pre-IB is just a warm-up. Anyway, what subjects do you do at Math right now? (Perhaps these are IB1/2 thigs which may seem hard if introduced to early)

I just finished doing equation of line, distance points between y and x, and started doing factorisation and surds

 

I don't want to sound discouraging but I do promise it will only get harder. But I keep my fingers crossed for you. Remember - practise makes perfect, really