Improving Your Math Scores
Your first three steps to math love are:
1. Decide you can improve
2. Discover the problems
3. Design an action plan.
Decide You Can Improve
You may have despaired of ever improving your math scores. Perhaps you have experienced frustration and failure. Know that you can overcome your math anxiety because help is available for you. Your mind, given the right instruction, can comprehend math. An “I can” attitude is essential for any math improvement strategy.
Discover the Problems
Math is a cumulative subject and many concepts build upon earlier math instruction. This means that if you missed a critical concept at some point in your math education, that missing link will cause problems for you in subsequent math courses. If, for example, you were sick during the week your class learned to add and subtract fractions, you must still grasp that concept. A college testing center, tutoring center, or helpful schoolteacher should be able to give you some diagnostic tests to identify the missing bricks in your math foundation.
If you have previously done well in math, it may be the fast pace of a particular class causing your problem. If a less intense math sequence is available, you may grasp and retain more information than you would in a class that is burying you in new concepts before you can assimilate them. If one concept is holding you up, perhaps a helpful classmate or professor can give some extra help.
Design an Action Plan
Once you have the right attitude and have identified the problem, put an action plan in writing. Set measurable goals such as “take math diagnostic test Monday” or “see counselor about switching to Math 175.” Check off action goals as you go. Keep working the plan and success will follow.
