Am i just forgetful? (1 Viewer)

matchalolz

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I feel like with maths whenever I learn a new topic I can do it really well but as soon as I start doing the homework for another topic my knowledge of the previous topic just previously fades away :( Does this happen to anyone else or am I just really forgetful? Help?!
 

braintic

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So what do you do in the way of regular revision?
Just DON'T let old topics go. Give yourself an hour each week where you just pull random questions from old topics.
 
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If you're forgetting how to do topics then that might mean you did not fully understand the stuff you learnt
 

enigma_1

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I feel like with maths whenever I learn a new topic I can do it really well but as soon as I start doing the homework for another topic my knowledge of the previous topic just previously fades away :( Does this happen to anyone else or am I just really forgetful? Help?!

What maths textbook do you use?

This feeling sounds familiar. It is either the problem of you using a very easy textbook (eg Maths in Focus, or Jones and couchman) which do not offer a diverse range of questions to challenge your understanding of the theory OR you are not learning the theory properly. But I am leaning towards the former. The exact same thing happened to me when I was using MIF and realised that surely high school maths can't be that easy. It wasn't until I opened up Cambridge and Fitzpatrick that I realised there's so much more to maths, than just MIF and its band 2 questions. If this is the case, take immediate action and switch to Cambridge. If not, then forget what I said and you may need to dedicate more time to maths/get a tutor.
 

braintic

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If you're forgetting how to do topics then that might mean you did not fully understand the stuff you learnt
Yes, I've found that the people who forget concepts quickly are those who treat maths as an exercise in rote learning formulas.
The people who never forget are the ones who ask 'what if ...', then proceed to look for the answer themselves.
 

Squar3root

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you should revise the stuff more so that you don't forget it by doing past papers
 

BLIT2014

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Start eating eggs, they are meant to help with memory :p
 

matchalolz

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What maths textbook do you use?

This feeling sounds familiar. It is either the problem of you using a very easy textbook (eg Maths in Focus, or Jones and couchman) which do not offer a diverse range of questions to challenge your understanding of the theory OR you are not learning the theory properly. But I am leaning towards the former. The exact same thing happened to me when I was using MIF and realised that surely high school maths can't be that easy. It wasn't until I opened up Cambridge and Fitzpatrick that I realised there's so much more to maths, than just MIF and its band 2 questions. If this is the case, take immediate action and switch to Cambridge. If not, then forget what I said and you may need to dedicate more time to maths/get a tutor.
for the last two terms i used to just do the worksheets my teacher gave me (and a lot of the time I hardly did my hw). right now i'm just trying to catch up with cambridge and fitzpatrick, it's going fine except for when I have trouble memorising the formulas >< maybe i just need to do hw more regularly and revise concepts

@everyone else: thanks for the advice
 

matchalolz

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Yes, I've found that the people who forget concepts quickly are those who treat maths as an exercise in rote learning formulas.
The people who never forget are the ones who ask 'what if ...', then proceed to look for the answer themselves.
this might be true actually... because my class started calculus when I was away and it's the holidays now so I couldn't be bothered to wait and so self taught myself the topic. I find that it's sticking better in my brain
 

RealiseNothing

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for the last two terms i used to just do the worksheets my teacher gave me (and a lot of the time I hardly did my hw). right now i'm just trying to catch up with cambridge and fitzpatrick, it's going fine except for when I have trouble memorising the formulas >< maybe i just need to do hw more regularly and revise concepts
Sounds more like you don't fully understand the topics.
 

iStudent

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Yeah with maths, formulas should come up in your brain like 1+1=2
(so if you can't seem to memorise them, this probably means you don't understand them or that you haven't done enough questions so that they are drilled into your head)
 

matchalolz

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Yeah with maths, formulas should come up in your brain like 1+1=2
(so if you can't seem to memorise them, this probably means you don't understand them or that you haven't done enough questions so that they are drilled into your head)
i think it was just the lack of doing questions. this is the first time i'm seriously doing my homework
 

enoilgam

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If you're forgetting how to do topics then that might mean you did not fully understand the stuff you learnt
Sounds more like you don't fully understand the topics.
I think this is partially true, but at the same time, it's natural to forget things after a while without revision - some people lose their knowledge faster than others. Like, I remember doing Carrot's 2U trial last year and I literally could only answer a handful of questions despite doing quite well in 2U back in 2010. However, a student requested that I help him with 2U this year and after going through the textbook on my own, I was able to rebuild my knowledge quite quickly. I reckon that my knowledge of Year 7-10 maths would also be mostly gone if I hadnt tutored junior maths for the past 4 years.

So OP, I think the key is revision and working hard to maintain your working knowledge of the course. At this point, you shouldnt really be working out of the textbook - you should be doing past papers. This should keep your knowledge sharp as you are constantly applying it through practice.
 

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