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How to Overcome the Fear of Mathematical Problems and Sums?

by Sep 13, 2016Mathematics

Reason behind the fear and adverse effects
One of the major subjects with which students of this generation face a problem is mathematics. Since students face quite a bit of trouble with the syllabus that is put forth in front of them, the fear for mathematics grows as an individual reaches higher classes. This in turn may lead to several adverse effects on the student in question.
One of the major effects of this excessive increase in syllabus for today’s students is extensive amount of peer pressure. This is turn may lead to several adverse effects on the health of an individual. This is the reason why student’s todays need extensive amount of counselling sessions especially those students who are in a field of which mathematics forms a major part.
Over the last couple of years, the frequency of events related to students committing suicides has gone up drastically and the major reason behind this drastic increase in the frequency of suicides is the extensive amount of peer pressure that students of this generation go through.
The worst part is that it’s not only mathematics that is a cause of this extensive peer pressure. Another major subject with which students of the science stream face a lot of problem is biology. This article however, focuses on ways in which individuals can overcome the fear of mathematics.
On the other hand, if you wish to find out ways and means in which you can overcome the fear of biology as well, you might as well go through “10 steps to do well in your biology assignments”. So what are you waiting for? Irrespective of which subject you are facing problems in, you will get solutions to all of that right at your fingertips through various online professional help wedsites.
Ways to overcome the fear of mathematics
As the title of this article suggests, it will be predominantly revolving around ways and means by which students of this generation can get rid of peer pressure caused due to mathematics and thus, overcome the fear of mathematical problems and assignments. Listed below are some of the major ways and means that ought to help students overcome the fear of mathematical problems:

  • Daily Problem Solving:

One of the most common suggestions for students who fail to overcome the fear of mathematical problems is to solve problems on a daily basis. This will not only help the student cover the entire syllabus in no time but at the same time regular practice sessions will also help in ensuring that the student gets rid of his or her fear as far as mathematical problems are concerned.
Teachers often recommend students to practice small number of sums at regular intervals. This will help the mind in focusing as long sessions often leads to loss of concentration irrespective of how serious a particular student is.

  • Mixing it up:

Another way that helps students in overcoming the fear of mathematics is by practicing a variety of sums. These will not only help the student gain a variety of knowledge but at the same time it will help ensure that the student is able to maintain a certain level concentration while he or she is practicing the sums.

  • Take up challenges:

Once you have started practicing sums on a regular basis, you should try taking up various challenges. Challenges may include puzzles, stumpers, brain teasers, etc. On the other hand, you might as well take up challenges such as completing a certain number of sums in a fixed time interval.
As you gain speed, you might as well increase the number of sums in the stipulated time interval. This will in turn help in preparing you for your exams by keeping you in the practice of solving sums as well as keeping track of the time at the same time.

  • Group Studies:

This is perhaps the most efficient way that ought to help individuals solve problems in no time. Speaking from personal experience, this method is extremely effective as far as mathematics or any other subject for that matter is concerned. This is due to the fact that different students have different types of doubt.
For example, if you and I sit for a group study session. Then the doubt you and I come across often turns out to be different and we can very well clear out each other’s doubts and as a result we will be able to make progress without the need of any sort of external help.

  • Make use of calculators:

There are numerous teaching certified boards that allow students to use calculators during exams and this often turns out to be extremely beneficial as you certainly won’t expect a class 12 student to be unable to do a particular addition, subtraction, multiplication or division.
Hence, such arithmetic’s may turn out to be a complete waste of time for students of higher grades. The use of calculators also ensures that a student is encouraged to try out the more difficult problems and not sit with the big calculations for the easier sums. In addition to this, it also ensures that the answer script of a student is free from calculation errors.
To top it all, no one is going to ask you to do simple arithmetic calculations in the professional world. So it is nothing but a complete waste of time and energy.

  • Brushing away mistakes:

This strategy is extremely effective as far as the students or the lower classes are concerned. Students must make use of dry erase boards at the time of solving mathematical problems. This will be ensure that the students can brush off any sort of mistakes they make and thus in the long run, this will help in boosting up their confidence by a great deal.

  • Frequent Checking of answers:

Most books come with answers at the back of the exercise or at the back of the book. This will help ensure that the student can self-verify his or her mistakes and try to correct the mistakes by himself or herself.
Moreover, completing a group of sums and figuring out how many you got right will also help a great deal as far as boosting up the self-confidence of an individual is concerned. It will also help the student in getting a clear idea about his or her current status of preparation.

  • Creative approaches:

As you must know, a mathematical problem can be solved in various ways and means. Once you solve a particular problem, you might as well start looking for finding new methods of solving the same problems over and over again. Then, at the time of the examination, you might as well adopt the method that requires the minimum amount of time for its completion.
This in the long run is extremely beneficial during examinations as time management as a major aspect to consider at the time of any examination. Students who are unable to manage their time properly often end up leaving paper, especially the mathematics paper incomplete. Believe me when I say this, I belong to that list!
Personal Experience
Over the years, I have been facing a lot of problems as far as my science subjects are concerned. Believe it or not, when it comes to science subjects at higher grades, the teachers have a major role to play as far as ensuring a proper result for the student is concerned. I had a major problem with time management as far as mathematics papers were concerned.
However, multiple test sessions by my teacher ensured that I get over this problem and as a result, I was finally able to complete my paper in the final examinations and passed with flying colors. I believe that the understanding of a subject is extremely important if you wish to be confident in that particular subject and not all students (myself included) are not capable of doing it alone.