Awful at Maths but need it (college, school, mathematics, military)

[Sickandtiredofthis]

Here I am again. I am honestly great with figures, give me any number and I can manipulate the hell out of it. (I got an A in GCSE Statistics ironically) To be truthful, I regard myself as an intelligent person.

However, when it comes to doing Advanced Maths I am absolutely terrible. I always come out with 50/55% and I cannot get the result to go any higher. I would be so over the moon with a B grade.

I need to do Maths for my degree, and I am finding it extremely difficult at this early stage. Maths is always the one thing to hold me back from success, I am always getting C grades.

I have studied it over and over and over again, nothing seems to work. I don't know how I am going to snap it or at least get it up to a decent standard. I have tried to ask teachers for help, each and everytime I come back more confused than I was before.

I am terrified that I am going to have 4 years of this ahead of me. I don't know what to do to crack it!

[Dirt Grinder]

I see two problems:
1) It seems you lack understanding of some basic mathematical concepts.
2) You've convinced yourself that you won't do well.

The only thing you can do is work through lots of problems until it "clicks" in your mind. I tutored an individual with a similar problem - he just couldn't solve polynomials. He had to work through hundreds of problems until it just "clicked."
Always make sure you understand the basics before tackling more advanced problems. This is especially true with Trigonometry, as you can derive the trigonometric functions and identities when you understand the basics behind Trigonometry.

[KingstonBob]

I would recommend www.khanacademy.org. They have an excellent Math playlist ranging all the way from elementary arithmetic through differential equations and advanced (multi-variable) calculus.

[Everdeen]

Originally Posted by Dirt Grinder

I see two problems:
1) It seems you lack understanding of some basic mathematical concepts.
2) You've convinced yourself that you won't do well.

The only thing you can do is work through lots of problems until it "clicks" in your mind. I tutored an individual with a similar problem - he just couldn't solve polynomials. He had to work through hundreds of problems until it just "clicked."
Always make sure you understand the basics before tackling more advanced problems. This is especially true with Trigonometry, as you can derive the trigonometric functions and identities when you understand the basics behind Trigonometry.

I'm inclined to go along with this.

OP: If I were presented with a student with your concerns, the first thing I would do is administer an assessment to determine which skills have not yet been mastered. There are several milestones in mathematics in which a students must master in order to be able to advance their understanding.

There has been a push, as of late, to blame the inability to develop mathematical understanding on a stand-alone, math specific disability. Be wary of those who would try to convince you that you may have this "disability".

See if you can find a math teacher - old school philosophy is best, imo - who can assess and tutor you to plug up the holes, so to speak.

One other thing - learning mathematics requires the same commitment as learning a language. You must practice every day. It takes concentration and practice, practice, practice. At least for us mere mortals.

In college, you can purchase the solutions manual which will show you step-by-step how to solve the exercises in the textbook. When I did my homework, I would always try to do the problems without looking in the solutions manual. If I got stuck, I would take a peek. Then I would redo the entire assignment until I could complete the homework without assistance.

Read the section, and work through the practice problems before the lecture. This will give you a chance to think about the concept you are learning and have your questions ready if your instructor does cover them during the lecture.

[Dirt Grinder]

Originally Posted by Everdeen

...It takes concentration and practice, practice, practice...

Very true. There aren't any shortcuts - it takes dedication and hard work.

[Three Wolves In Snow]

OP, I feel your pain. I can't tell you the struggles I've had with advanced math. I'm not an idiot, and I wanted to understand math. I tried hard, I had several people, from my dad to my LT in the military spend untold hours of their own time trying to help me get it. (Totally appreciated.) Still, I could not get it. It was frustrating.

Then one day, while in school, I was in the lounge between classes talking to a classmate who was higher up in math than I was. He was attempting to help me figure it all out. Nope, it still wasn't clicking. A girl on the sofa opposite us piped up and asked what it was I was working on. I explained to her, and told her about how so many people have tried to help me, I had worked so hard and could never get it...

Well. This is no exaggeration in the slightest. After all of those years, after all of that studying and hard work and finding zero success, and me thinking I was the dumbest person on earth, this girl proceeded to explain it to me and within five minutes, I'm not even lying, within FIVE minutes, because of the WAY she said it, it ALL clicked. It ALL made sense. ALL of it.

That's the key: Find someone who will explain it to you in the way that YOUR brain will understand. It's hard to find those types of people, but don't give up. I went through countless professors, countless people, over the course of about 4-5 years, and it took one stranger, (who from that point became a really good friend), to make it all click for me in a matter of minutes. This girl was duuuuuuuuuumb in everything else, but she was brilliant when it came to math. And she knew exactly how to explain it. That's what you need.

Kahn Academy is a good place to go, but you're still going to need to find that one person who will make it all make sense to you. It's the best feeling in the world. I loved math after that. I couldn't wait to get home and do my math homework. Sometimes, that new friend and I would go to Denny's, instead of going out to the club, and do math homework at the table while waiting for our food, that's how much I loved math after that.

Sometimes it's not the tutors or the instructors who will help you. Sometimes it's the last person you would ever expect. Keep looking, you will find them.

[pkbab5]

Everything in math builds upon an earlier math skill. Math is hard because it is one of the only subjects like that. If you don't fully master something in 4th grade, it will bite you in the butt years down the line when you try to learn some advanced math that requires a deep understanding of that 4th grade concept.

I second the idea of going to Khan Academy. Start looking through the topics from back in grade school and move forward, find the topics that you are least firm on and go back and master them.

It's kind of like trying to understand what's going on in a TV show when you missed the first season (or just forgot what happened). You can sort of understand what's happening now, but unless you go back and watch what you missed, you aren't going to be able to see the big picture.

[Adi from the Brunswicks]

Think of math from the perspective of a subject you like, and how its applied there.

I gained interest in integral calculus by understanding its applications in electromagnetism.

Been doing calculus for 9 years now, and still like it very much .

[patches403]

What's your major? If math is so important to your major that you have to take 4 years of math classes and you're struggling this much in year 1 - maybe this isn't the major for you.

[CPPU12345]

I don't want to discourage you, but the Math is about logic; and the life on earth is not logical. Therefore, if you are too good at the Math, then your life is probably screwed. So be contend with a C on the Math. That C would be your Vitamine C for life.