Can you give me some excellent MATH study habits that work?

Question

I am a tutor and I want to know:

Does anyone have some study habits tricks? Like for studying for tests, and/or memorizing things?

Like how do you memorize things if you have a bunch of formulas to memorize!?

One trick I know is to write a few formulas on a note and stick it on the wall in the shower, then memorize it each morning.

Answer 1

You have to do lots and lots of practice problems. There's no short cut around that in math. To get better people have to repeat, practice. There's no magic techniques. Although some can help. If you constantly use formulas you'll eventually get it memorized, stored in long term memory. It'll may also help to do lot of practice problems including those formulas or try to use it in some way instead of out right memorizing.

Answer 2

Well....... In addition to the usual caveats about having a place to study, keeping the cellphone (and the stereo and the TV ☺) turned off, the single, biggest 'trick' I know to learning math is to **WORK PROBLEMS**!!!!! Lots of them.

Another trick is to actually *study* the material. In particular a student should work through all of the example problems in their book. Not just look at them and think, "Yeah, that's kewl." and go back to the video games. Actually working through an example forces the student to understand what was done (and, more importantly, -why- it was done) at each step of the problem solving process.

In particular, word problems seem to be the absolute most difficult thing that students have to learn. But it is critical that they learn how to say, "Let x be the number of marbles in Toms bag and y be the number in Joes bag..... etc". They simply *must* learn to transform the 'real world' into abstract symbols, perform abstract manipulations on those symbols, and then transform the result back to the real world. If they don't, they'll never be any good at math. And the longer it goes, the worse it gets because the negative, self-fullfilling prophesy becomes more true every day. "I'll never understand this stuff." is just another way of saying, "I never learned the basics of abstract reasoning."

I taught University-level math, physics, and electronics for many years. I only left it a couple of years ago because the school I was teaching in became overrun with Harvard MBA's and accountants who rapidly transformed it into a 'diploma mill' and a 'cash cow', but I still miss it. Good luck, Dewd.


Doug

Edit: Hehehe. As I read a few of the other replies, it seems as if 'the' trick (working problems) isn't just my own, personal observation. Keep at it, guys and gals. The further you go in math, the more fun it gets. You'll know you've finally 'arrived' when your favorite kind of evening involves a math text you've never read before along with a pad of paper, a pencil, and a calculator ☺


Doug

Answer 3

Reword the questions so that the things you are countinng matter to you. If you like cars then somehow make cars a part of the question. Also try to use as few words to ask the question as you can.

Example:

Here is the normal question

Two objects are side by side moving parallel to each other. The objects need to travel a distance of 60 miles total. Object A goes at 60 mph for 30 miles then 30 mph the last 30 miles. Object B travels at 45 mph the entire 60 miles. Both Objects started moving at the same time. Which object will arrive at it's destination first.



If the person you are teaching likes cars you might try it like this.

A Chevy Corvette is racing a Dodge Viper 60 miles. The Corvette does 60mph for half the distance and 30 mph for the other half. The Viper goes 45mph for the entire distance. Both cars left the starting line at the same time. Who won?



For the record the Corvette took 1hour 30mins and the Viper took 1hour 20mins.

Viper wins. (sorry corvette fans but I love the Viper)

Answer 4

Ahm, for me the best study habit that really work is still practice.. because formula is still useless if you do not know how to apply it.
On the other hand, memorizing formula is still good but it should go with practice. My cousin's tactic in studying and memorizing formula the last time he took the eng'g board exam was posting not just few but all the formula he knew in the four corner of his room and memorize it before he goes to sleep and early in the morning after he wakes up and dude it works on him coz he passed the exam.. why not try it?! there's no harm in trying..
Good luck and God Bless!

Answer 5

My teacher in a review center, before taking the professional board examination suggest to list all essential formulas big enough to fit the walls of your room and doors (including the toilet). Then every time you see that banner-like list of formulas, just read and re-read it. If you can manage to post on your room ceiling, better, so before you sleep, it can be your "counting sheeps".

I guess it works...since I passed the exam :)

Answer 6

understand it and plenty of practice. if you're too lazy to practice, just understand it and know how its done...