One of the subjects which dreaded the most by students is Mathematics. “I need help on my math homeworkâ€- this is the common rambling which you will get to hear among students. It seems as if math gets on their nerves every time they sit down to solve a question.
Can anyone tell me why do students have this negative notion about Mathematics? In my childhood, I never feared math, nor did I ever tell my parents that I need help on my math homework. Be confident about yourself, that you can be successful in this subject. If you are weak in this subject, take help from your parents and teachers.
Mathematics can be immensely fun and a full marks scoring subject if you start loving it. Once you abandon your fear and embrace math, your parents will hardly hear you saying, “I need help on my math homeworkâ€.
These are some of the ways by which you can make question-solving on math easy:
- Math is synonymous with practice:
Math is one such subject which needs practice on a daily basis. Be sure that you are in regular touch with this subject. Knowing the formulae is not enough. If you do not use those formulae, your memory of them will be tarnished. So, make it a habit of keeping math in your study time-table every single day.
The more you practice, the more speed and accuracy you gain. This will help you in building your confidence. Also, regular practice will make you face various types of questions which can be asked from a particular topic and so your chances of solving an unknown question (if it comes in exam) get enhanced.
- Pictorial representation-charts, bar graphs and Venn diagrams:
Processing a lot of data can be a tough task. A long question written in a statement form may not be student-friendly. This is where pictorial representation comes to your aid. When you represent the problem statement in the form of tables, pie-charts, line and bar graphs and even diagram, it gives you an easy access to the information and makes the problem more presentable. It becomes easy for you to solve the question now.
- Associate math with everyday routine:
Almost every topic of math-whether it is profit and loss, or percentage, area or volume calculation or time and work problem- these topics have a real life application. This gives you a reason to develop an interest in this subject.
Mastering the subject of mathematics will help you to face real life scenario with ease. You will be able to make fast calculations in your mind when you are out for shopping, you will be able to calculate the time duration of your journey if you are aware of the speed of the car you are travelling in and the distance of your destination from the source.
- Sometimes use back calculation:
Say, you are provided with a multiple choice question with four options. An equation involving a variable has been provided and you have been asked to find out the value of that variable.
You don’t know what should be the first step and you are running out of wits about solving the question. What do you do? Apply the rule of back calculation. Substitute the values given in the question one by one and see which one gives you the correct option. Yes, this process can be time-taking but you are sure to get a solution if you use this method.
- Easy hacks:
If you can somehow cheat in your exam, life will be so easy. Oh no…don’t even think we will encourage you to cheat in a literal way. What we mean by cheating here is using easy and simple hacks. Consider you have been given a trigonometric identity to prove.
The general conception is to start from the left side and arrive at the right side. If you are stuck while solving this question, take a rough sheet, start from the right side, arrive at the left side and copy the steps in your answer sheet from the bottom to up, i.e. in a backward way. In other words, the solution you write in your answer sheet will be showing how you arrived at the right hand side from the left hand side. And voila! You will get full marks for that. All your trigonometric proofs will be a piece of cake with this method.
- Have an insatiable hunger for the subject in order to perfect it:
Just don’t limit your practice to the example or the exercise problems given in your textbook. Buy other books apart from your syllabus books and try to solve the questions given in those books. Keep an eye for the tips and tricks. Always have an appetite for gaining more knowledge.
“I need help on my math homeworkâ€-we hope that this sentence is now making you less nervous as you are getting to know the ways by which you can get rid of your math phobia. We are not done yet. There is more to come. We have discussed some additional ways for you which are discussed below:
- Don’t let your homework pile up:
If you keep procrastinating your homework, stop doing that. Pilling up your homework is only going to make matters worse later.
As discussed earlier, practice math every day. This will not only help you to get your homework done on time, but will give you an edge over other students. Along with this habit try to look for posts like “Help me with my English homework†– is this your query? A must read on for you.
- Increase your speed gradually:
Try to increase the speed of your question solving with every passing question. If you take more time in a question, you begin to doubt yourself. Do not let that happen. Try to gain speed by regular practice.
- Indulge in brain games:
Brain games like Sudoku, number puzzle, Rubik’s cube increases the sharpness of your mind. These games provide you entertainment as well as make your mind keen and prepare it for processing information faster.
- Be a part of active learning:
Active learning means engaging yourself in complex topics to boost your brain. When you are trying to solve the complex topics, the neurons get activated and so your attention increases. But, if you try attempt these topics before mastering the basic ones, you are sure to face confusion. Once you are done with the easy topics, move your focus on the difficult and complex topics.
Final words
It is understood that as students, you need to pay your attention to a number of subjects. When the turn of mathematics comes, you are drained-up and sluggish. Hopefully, the points discussed here will help you, and your chanting of –“I need help on my math homework†will find a positive channel.