Strategies to Improve Your Math



  • Review Errors- When you’re practicing with these problems, it’s important to work through the process for each solution. If you have made any mistakes, you should review them and understand where your problem-solving skills let you down. Understanding how you approached the problem and where you went wrong is a great way of becoming stronger and avoiding the same mistakes in the future.

  • Analyze and understand every mistake- Our culture has become perfection- focused, and it’s tempting to ignore our mistakes. Students want to pass over a mistake made on homework or a test, to just let it go. But it’s important to fix mistakes and understand why they were made; otherwise we’re doomed to repeat them. Take time to figure out the thinking behind a mistake, and figure out how to do it right. Ask the teacher if you’re unclear. In advanced classes, it can be helpful to write a paragraph of reflection about why errors were made.
  • Get help fast- If a student realizes that something is difficult, he should seek as much help as possible as quickly as possible. Teachers are very receptive to requests for extra help. Straighten out misunderstandings before they start to snowball.

  • Play math games- Math games are good tools for honing your math skills and are designed to let you have fun while doing it. Some recommended online math games 

  • Make math part of your life- Incorporate math equations into your daily routine to help keep your skills sharp and to help you recognize the many ways that math exists all around you

  • Schedule study time- Set aside time in your schedule for math homework and study. Otherwise you may be tempted to procrastinate, find yourself getting behind, or end up studying at inopportune times

  • Develop good note-taking skills- Though it may seem like all you need to take notes is to write down what the instructor says, successful note-taking has as much to do with how you write them as what you write in them.

  • Make studying math a priority- Set aside time to work on math at the same time and in the same place everyday. Doing so will help you avoid procrastinating and make it easier to get into “math” mode

  • Draw a Picture, Diagram or Chart- As a visual learner, this is almost always my first step in working out a problem.  Simply drawing a diagram of what’s happening, or organizing the information in a chart or table will give you a better understanding of the problem, and possibly help you spot patterns or information that you otherwise would have missed

  • Take Your Time- Often, students are in such a hurry to “get it done” that they don’t take time to stop and think about the problem. This leads to careless mistakes, or simply guessing because they don’t know how to solve it right away.  It’s ok to try something that doesn’t work, and then try something different.

  • Don't work problems very late at night- I know all of the college students will be laughing at this, but it is true. I have tried many, many times to do Calculus or Physics late at night, after 12 or 1 am, but you are just doing yourself a disservice. I have stared at problems for hours because I just could not sleep until I knew how to solve it...then I finally fell asleep out of extreme fatigue...but when I woke up it just seemed so simple how to proceed with the problem. Also, I have worked problems at night and got the wrong answer, and I knew I must have a silly mistake in the solution. I would usually set out to find it, but many times when you are tired you simply can't find the silly mistake. The next morning after about 5 minutes I could spot the simple sign error or even a simple multiplication error that caused the problem.

  • Understand your Doubts- Sometimes you can get stuck trying to solve part of a maths problem and find it difficult to move on to the next stage.  It’s common for many students to skip this question and continue on to the next. You should avoid doing this and instead spend time trying to understand the process of solving the problem. Once you have grasped an understanding of the initial problem, you can use this as a stepping stone to progress to the remainder of the question.

  • Practice, Practice & More Practice- It is impossible to study math properly by just reading and listening. To study math you have to roll up your sleeves and actually solve some problems.The more you practice answering math problems, the better. Each problem has its own characteristics and it’s important to have solved it in numerous ways before tackling the exam. There is no escaping this reality, to do well in a Math exam you need to have solved a LOT of mathematical problems beforehand.

  • Don’t swallow your questions- Questions are the vehicle by which we learn. If you have one, ask it. Chances are that many of your students have the same question. Saying it out loud will help you, your classmates, and the teacher. Asking good questions is a lifelong skill, and school is a safe place to practice. The more questions we ask, the easier it gets. A good teacher will respect all questions. If you feel that your teacher embarrasses you for asking a question, talk to your parents and have them tell the administration; this is a serious problem.


By Rajveer Home Tutorial (8090970148)

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