School/maths

[Blackjohn]

So my name is Konstantinos and I am in the second year of lyceum.I have been always be a good student, but not the type I wanted to be.The previous year I started doing my first steps, studying wanting it.This year I have taken my studies very seriously and after watching Leo's video on how to study I made many changes.I chose the field of economics and this requires maths as the most important subject(3 others too).But here in Greece in the third class everything concerning maths changes to very demanding,because of the A-Level exams.Although my grades(general and in maths) are high and I study for understanding sometimes I do not feel secure with maths.Do you have any suggestions on how to study this specific subject and reach a good level?Which will help me this year and especially the next.

Apreciate reading this,

Greetings from Greece

[Grka]

Bro, you Just need to sit down and study. Search YouTube videos for specific math problems. Also, do every single homework,  and pay extremly good attention to your classes. Do the problems from the books. I'm a student, too, so I know what I'm saying

[mostly harmless]

I did this and got an A in my final exams:

 

1.

You need a bunch of practice assignments and the solutions, so you can immediately test if you got it right.

Make a list of your set of assignments (everything you need to know for your next test needs to be there) and each time you completed an assignment make a green √ for correct or a red X for false, plus add date and time.

Whenever you have an assignment incorrect, not only note that you got it wrong, but also look what kind of mistake you made and note that, too.

It is important to distinguish wether there is something you did not understand or wether you just did not concentrate enough and made a minor mistake. Then you know what you still have to learn better or wether you have to concentrate more.

You then do the same assignments repeatedly. Then you will over time see more and more green √ and fewer red X. Then you can see your progress in one glimpse.

 

2.

In whatever topic you are currently looking at, there are a number of steps explained in the text books. 

Now what you do is to write these steps down in a very short form and in your own words.

 

For instance when working with vectors you might have something like this (this is an algorithm by the way):

Assignement: 2 vectors given. Have to find out if the vectors intersect, if yes where they intersect.

Step 1: Replace the x of one vector's formula with the formula of the other vector.

Step 2: Try to solve the formula

If there is a solution, that's where the vectors intersect.

If there is no solution, then the vectors do not intersect.

If they do not intersect check if parallel:

Step 3: ...

 

Then you do some assignments in that area. After 5-10 minutes try to write down your algorithm from memory. The first 2-3 times you will need to look in your book or your initial handwritten page. But when you repeat this, after maybe 5 times, you will have that step by step process in memory.

 

Then do your solving practice, note down correct and incorrect in your list, note down the types of mistakes (minor, major) and mix it with writing down your solving algorithms over and over.

In the next test you will see your assignments and immediately know step by step what to do.

 

3.

Timer. I did also have a stop watch to time how long I took for each practice assignment. Write down your times as well.

In the tests I did use the time. If I had 90 minutes and there where 50 points in the test, then I subtracted 20 minutes, divided the remaining 70 min./50 points=1,4 minutes per point. Then I wrote down the time I had for each assignment. If one assignment was worth 10 points, I would write 14 min. on the assignment sheet. I would then set my timer to the according times. 

The extra 20 minutes are a buffer for re-calculating when I had made a mistake somewhere. You need a minimum of 10% more time, than you think. Typically I needed much more than 10%. 

I have a timer that has 2 timers in one. One for the total test time and one for each assignment. It is important that you can switch off any signal noises obviously.

[Toby]

It's a matter of practising. putting in your time and learning strategies. And, don't demand too much from you, because no matter what you do, there will always be people for whom it is way easier than for you. And to get the best grades it is also about speed. Get old exams and do the tasks in it over and over again and go from there what you need to know.

[Elisabeth]

Everyone is giving great practical tips, and they are right. I just want to add, that math can be a really beautiful subject, an art form really. They don't tend to show it at school too much. If it appeals, spend some time daydreaming about pyramids (3D geometry) and what the heck the meaning of 'infinetissimally small' is (calculus)  

If you want a glimps of what a mathematician finds beautiful in maths, you can read 'A Mathematician’s Lament' by Paul Lockhart. It's a 25 pages essay, you can google it.