Debunking the Myth
You have probably heard that most people either consider themselves a ‘math person’, or not. Really this couldn’t be further from the truth. Most often, early on in grade school some students have early wins, or certain concepts are easy for them to grasp. They receive praise from their teachers and parents, and this reinforces in their mind that they are inherently ‘good at math’. They are then placed in higher level math than their peers, and as a result receive more (positive) attention from teachers, and praise from parents. Conversely, the students that have a harder time grasping the subjects are labeled as just not ‘math people’. They aren’t put in the accelerated courses, and since they are told they aren’t ‘math people’ why would they pay attention, or really try? The worst part is, this could hold someone back from pursuing a certain career, because it’s not in their genes. Think about this, when you hear a young child who can’t pronounce their R’s or W’s are they told they just aren’t ‘english people’? No, that’s nonsense they just need practice and coaching. These are the strategies I used to go from not being a math person, to acing Calculus in college.
Ask Questions
Unfortunately there are no secrets, or quick tips to improving at math. It takes diligence and discipline. First of all, while in class you have to ask questions when you don’t understand something. I know this may feel uncomfortable, but I always ask questions as soon as I am lost. What I realized is most often when I’m confused it is not because I’m dumb or don’t understand, it’s because the professor skipped a step they thought was “obvious”. Highlight parts of your homework you didn’t understand, so you can ask during class discussion. If you really are too embarrassed to ask for some reason keep a highlighter or red pen and write notes in the margin, then ask a tutor or teachers assistant to reexplain. This part will be difficult at first, because they may explain it differently. At first, this will make you feel like you aren’t understanding the concept. But, you will soon realize that most of the time there is more than one way to arrive at the same answer. I remember one time going over the homework, and the professor was doing something completely different than what I had done; but then arrived at the same answer. That was encouraging.
Practice, Practice and Practice
I used to say “The hardest part of Calculus, is the Algebra.” If you take Calculus you will realize that you will have to apply algebraic rules to certain expression before you can apply Calculus operations. This means that while learning upper division math, you still be getting stumped by things you were taught in high school. I didn’t feel like I had a good grasp on Algebra until after I completed Calculus II. So, when a problem incorporates some Algebra, you don’t remember how to do, you have to go back and review. Kahn academy has some great free tools and videos just for this. Going back and watching another lecture on YouTube can also help reinforce something you just learned in class. This will also help you see that sometimes the way a professor says something is what is confusing, and not the actual material that’s confusing. Professor Leonard has a great YouTube channel for this purpose. You will also have to practice a lot of problems, more than what the professor assigned. This can be frustrating, but the pay off will be huge.
Break a Sweat
When doing the homework, it is important to make your brain WORK. By this I mean, you need to get to the point in a problem where you have no idea what to do. When you feel like you want to pull your hair out, and think there is no way to do the problem, that is when your brain is actually growing and learning. If you do a problem start to finish without a care, then you didn’t learn anything. That would be like using a 1 lb. dumbbell at the gym; you did it, but you’re not going to grow. This is most frustrating part, because it does not feel like learning. It goes against everything you have been told about math. If you were a ‘math person’ this would be easy. Once you have gotten to that point, start trying different things, go back and look for mistakes. I once heard someone say “if you don’t know how to solve a problem, look for a problem you do know how to solve and do that part.” Think to yourself “what is this problem actually asking me to find?” Think back to lecture and if the professor solved a similar problem, try and remember what they did. Sometimes you’ll remember steps 1 & 3, but get stumped on step 2. If you remember what the next step is supposed to look like you can sometimes reverse engineer the previous step just by trying to make the problem look like what you think it’s supposed to look like. Sometimes you’ll get it, and sometimes you won’t, but make yourself think before you check the book or ask the tutor.
You Got This
While I was taking Calculus 1, I wrote in my journal once that “I felt like I was at the base of Mount Everest, in a storm with low visibility, and my guide had no idea where to go either.” This came from my frustration with the professors, tutors and myself. I wanted to quit so badly. I didn’t even know that I would eventually get it, I just knew I had to work my ass off. It’s funny to think I could have had a completely different life if I had listened to the people who said “you either get math, or you don’t”.
Below are a link to a few great books that really helped me get perspective on how I could get through this trial of learning math.
Insights That Ignite 