How do I catch up in maths? (1 Viewer)

[wjdyeon]

Hi,

So I'm in year 12 (well in a week) but I'm so stressed about my math skills. 2020 has personally been a very tough year and probably the most difficult times I've encountered. As a result, I was very mentally and emotionally strained and found no motivation to study. Now, I'm trying to get back on track but I feel so lost since I don't have that solid foundation that I was supposed to build in year 11. This has impacted by maths skills A LOT since math isn't only about memorising and understanding but also particularly needs a lot of practice. I'm just really scared and clueless at this stage because in a couple of days, school will start and I'll be needing to cover a lot of content from year 11 while also practising and start studying for year 12. I'm not too sure, but I'm looking forward to doing extension 2 maths and will definitely keep doing extension 1. Additionally, in year 12, other subjects will require much more work and effort and I'm also doing the HSC this year for one of my subjects.

Does anyone have any tips and guidance for quickly catching up on maths while doing them well?

 

[beetree1]

Hey, dont even stress about that!

I understand why you would feel as though you are studying towards nothing, but you are wrong. PM me for more cheesy inspirational shit that I've told many other people on this platform haha

But just so you know, I also struggled with Maths in prelims (I got around 50% for all my exams) and still decided to do Extension 2 too. I would start doing maths in my spare time, when I am too tired to write essays, and I found myself finishing homework ahead of my class and school, allowing me to look at the new concepts ahead in the textbook which let me consolidate my understanding a bit more before my teacher went through it in more depth.

After finishing all the content, I started to do past papers, which I personally now enjoy doing, but is also essential. I think if you just force yourself to do maths as your 'chill' subject, and do it whenever you want a break, you will start to love it. Since you said you're still behind on year11 content, I would suggest skipping it (a bit dangerous but trust the process) and start to really focus in Year 12 because half of the lessons would be revision of year11 and if you genuinely focus, you will be able to understand everything, which thus repudiates your need to refine your year 11 skills - I would just make sure you finish Perms and Combs and trigonometry and the rest is fine.

Just for reference and perhaps a ray of hope, I failed maths all throughout years 7-11, but I placed 2nd in both extension 1 and 2 in trials this year in my top5 selective school so DO NOT LOSE HOPE TRUST IN THE PROCESS AND I BELIEVE IN YOU!!

 

[CM_Tutor]

I would add that revising / strengthening your skills on preliminary materials should be strategic. Look at the order that you will cover year 12 content and focus on the preliminary areas that matter for the new content that is coming up soon. In effect, there is preliminary material that is important that, at times, may need to be delayed so that you can focus on the material that is urgent.