How does one do well when they struggle in maths (2 Viewers)

[eyeseeyou]

just practice really

you have to master the fundamentals first by being able to do easy questions, then harder questions become a lot easier when you can understand all the parts and the way they want you to solve a question

from the volume and type of questions you post, I think you still are aways from getting the fundamentals down, and that's a step you can't really overlook

I think you give up too easily as well. You really should only ask for help on here when you are actually desperate lol, so really you should never need to post like 20 questions at a time.

I think go grab a maths textbook and literally do every question until you can get them all right on the first go.

tbh thats rote learn imo

 

[eyeseeyou]

Call it basic but you don't seem to use your formula sheet. Because you don't know when to apply what when the formula sheet actually makes it quite obvious.

I do do that lol, it's sometimes I'm stuck and don't know what to do but then when someone solves it for me, I'm like ""ahhhhh"

 

[eyeseeyou]

Also imagine you were doing maths and you struggled with 80%-90% of the questions (fortunately I'm not like this). What would you do in order to raise that up to the extent where you are actually doing all the questions right? I have a feeling if I do 4U, this will happen to me (I'm hoping not)

 

[BlueGas]

This method worked for me, not sure if it will work for you.

I done this in the last month towards the HSC, basically for 2U, I looked at quite alot of past papers from other schools (Ruse, Baulko, etc.) and I would "attempt" to do the questions which I have trouble with. If I knew how to do them (which most of the time was not the case), then great, if I didn't know how to do them, then also great. Because I ended up looking at the answers, and trying to understand the process. It probably took me about 5 papers to go through until I started to understand. Even though for some this might seem non-efficient because I'm just looking at the answers, but once I started noticing a trend in the process leading up to the answer, I had an idea of how to approach the question.

 

[Nailgun]

tbh thats rote learn imo

not really, its more like building a toolbox
more applicable to 3U (and I assume) 4U

actually something that might help you is actually going through the proofs and derivations of all the formulae and stuff you use
it's not really examinable material, but it can help heaps with your understanding
I know cambridge often has proofs as appendixes at the end of chapters
that might work

 

[iforgotmyname]

Tbh after you do a shitload of Qs, you start to see a pattern
Not sure if it's just me
and adding to what nailgun said, your maths questions seem to have the same recurring pattern, go and do the basics first, there's no point in doing harder questions if you don't get it
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yeah, those patterns exists but only for the earlier questions. For the latter ones, there is hardly a pattern that occurs everyyear cause they introduce a lot of curveballs to it

 

[iStudent]

I'm not good at maths, but if there is one thing I know from observing people who are good at math is that they NEVER look at the answers.

Even if something is COMPLETELY obvious like 1 + 1 = 2 and they are just not 'seeing' it for lack of a better word, they still never look at the answers. Ever. They stay at that question for hours, days even.

Looking at answers should be a last resort. It's the staring down at the question and thinking endlessly about it & improving your skills from thereon that make it better -- even if it is obvious.

I think I'm decent at maths, and I have to agree with resisting the temptation to look at the answer straight away (for hard questions I mean!). It's when you figure out how to do the tough questions yourself that your deductive skills truly improve. If you spent 1 minute on a Q15/16 style question and went straight for the answer then all you're doing is cheating yourself - you might be able to do a similar question with different numbers and such, but you would struggle if they throw a new question that required creativity (and not memorised techniques).

Memorising/understanding techniques will only get you so far (good enough for the purposes for e4 probably). But to improve further you need to have strong deductive skills.

Obviously though, don't spend too long. Just don't give up and go straight to the answer is what I'm saying.

Oh this is only for those harder questions btw (which is what I think 1337 is referring to). If you're new to the topic and still trying to get your head around it feel free to (and I would recommend) looking at the answers as much as you want.

 

[buckskinbrumby]

I do do that lol, it's sometimes I'm stuck and don't know what to do but then when someone solves it for me, I'm like ""ahhhhh"

yeah I do this all the time too =l

 

[leehuan]

I do do that lol, it's sometimes I'm stuck and don't know what to do but then when someone solves it for me, I'm like ""ahhhhh"

I called forth whatever I knew to attempt a question

I start by figuring out what topic the broad idea is so I know where to grab my main concepts. Then I find where to start.

I set up whatever I need to start the question, and then it becomes tackling the algebra. That forces me to draw concepts out of all topics.

But I know everything out of say logs, elementary algebra, trig and all of that. I've also seen multiple patterns appear to know when to use what. It's really practice.

The first past paper is always hard for me to do. I perform decently only cause a lot of what I learn...well I actually just remember 50%+ of what I learn! The rest I study back into me


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[si2136]

How does one UNDERSTAND MATHS? (without practicing) I wanna understand first before applying

Many renowned tutoring places just rote learn their students.

If you want to understand, view step by step answers of questions and understand how and why the topic is used in real life applications.

 

[leehuan]

not really, its more like building a toolbox
more applicable to 3U (and I assume) 4U

actually something that might help you is actually going through the proofs and derivations of all the formulae and stuff you use
it's not really examinable material, but it can help heaps with your understanding
I know cambridge often has proofs as appendixes at the end of chapters
that might work

1-up to this though.

I really enjoyed working through the proofs

 

[eyeseeyou]

I find that maths is a rote learn subject and not so much conceptual understanding as you are practicing the questions

 

[authenticity]

I find that maths is a rote learn subject and not so much conceptual understanding as you are practicing the questions

Then find Qs with a twist to it. Or better yet, find Qs that involve 2+ topics molded together. If you can do those, it means that you do understand the topics quite well. If you think it's all rote learning, probably means that you really haven't delved into the harder Qs that aren't necessarily straight forward.

 

[eyeseeyou]

Then find Qs with a twist to it. Or better yet, find Qs that involve 2+ topics molded together. If you can do those, it means that you do understand the topics quite well. If you think it's all rote learning, probably means that you really haven't delved into the harder Qs that aren't necessarily straight forward.

Such as...? In 3U and 4U

 

[leehuan]

Such as...? In 3U and 4U

2015 HSC MX1
Q12 d)

Classic example of using circle results (not circle geometry) to build up into a Newton's method of approximation question

The classic MX2 conics question that falls into using the quadratic discriminant is another example but I forgot how the question goes

Most of the time, the last question on the MX2 paper is NOT rote as well

And 2014 HSC MX1
Q14 last question
Good way to mix your skills in probability with series and sequences