Practice. Go over and over the
questions, both the ones from class and the examples in textbooks.
Try to find other questions that are
similar to the assigned ones to practice on (e.g. questions from online, or
past paper questions).
Make sure that you read all of the
text and not just the examples.
Review your errors. When you’re
practicing it’s important to identify any mistakes that you make and understand
where your skills let you down (e.g. why you made that mistake).
Master the concepts, instead of
trying to memorise the processes. It’s important to have a firm understanding
of the key concepts underling a topic before moving on to work on another.
Approach problems from different
perspectives and try different ways to reach an answer.
Try and keep your notes neat,
especially with more complicated maths when you might lose your place, or need
to review the material.
Create a study space that is free of
distractions. Maths requires a lot of concentration so being able to focus is
important.
Create a mathematical dictionary so
that you have a list of terms and definitions that you need to know. You can
test yourself on this using flashcards.
Because Maths can be so abstract,
applying the concepts to a real world situation can really help you understand
it.
Form a study group so that you can
review material together and test each other. You can even make up problems for
each other.
Look for study guides online
(sparknotes is a great place to look).
If you have any questions, ask your
teacher for clarification.
Exam tips:
In certain problems, you may be able to “guess” at an approximate answer.
After you perform your calculations, see if your final answer is close to your
guess.
Make sure that you read the
questions fully before beginning your calculations. If you don’t pay enough
attention you might misunderstand what’s being asked, and lose marks.
Know your calculator! Find out
what brand you can use in your exam, buy one, and get used to it! The more
familiar that you are with your calculator, the less likely you are to make a
mistake.
If you know that your answer to a
question is incorrect but you cannot find the mistake, start over on a clean
piece of paper. Often when you try to correct a problem, you continually
overlook the mistake. Starting over will let you focus on the question,
not on trying to find the error.
Remember, that it may be necessary to work out additional
information in a problem before reaching the final answer. These are
called “two-step” problems and are testing your ability to recognize
what information is needed.