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This article was co-authored by Grace Imson, MA. Grace Imson is a math teacher with over 40 years of teaching experience. Grace is currently a math instructor at the City College of San Francisco and was previously in the Math Department at Saint Louis University. She has taught math at the elementary, middle, high school, and college levels. She has an MA in Education, specializing in Administration and Supervision from Saint Louis University.
This article has been viewed 61,978 times.
Have your friends been scoring well on math tests, and you want to earn grades like theirs? Then this is the right place for you to improve your math skills and to get some tips on how to pass a math test or paper with a good grade next time you take one.
Steps
Go to class. Especially if you're in college, you may find it tempting to skip a class now and then. While you can get away with that in some subjects, math is like a ladder. If a rung is missing, or if you don't get a good grip on it, you'll struggle to reach the next rung. If enough rungs are missing, it will be impossible to climb higher. In addition (no pun intended), teachers often emphasize the most important topics in class, so come test time you'll know exactly what to study.
Sit in the front row and participate in class. By sitting in the front row, distractions are minimized and performance heightened. Asking questions or providing answers helps the student to stay engaged in the learning process, thus improving attentiveness and retention of materials learned.[1]
Do your homework. Homework may seem like torture, but it's really designed to help you learn. The key to learning math is repetition: do enough problems with the quadratic formula, and you'll eventually be able to recite it in your sleep. Plus, as you do your homework, you'll be able to identify concepts you don't understand. It also doesn't hurt that test questions are often based on the homework assignments.
Ask questions. OK, so you did your homework, but you still don't understand how to factor a polynomial. Go ahead and ask your teacher, TA, professor - even other students may be able to help. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and if you think it's embarrassing to ask a question imagine how you'll feel when you get a big red "F" on the exam. Everybody has questions about math; successful students ask theirs.[2]
Review before the test. Good job! You went to class, did your homework, and got your questions answered. Now, the test is tomorrow. Do you a) breathe a sigh of relief and go to bed; b) turn on the TV and watch the Simpsons; or c) review what you've learned? That's right, it's time to review. This is not the time for cramming, however; you're better prepared than that anyway. Go over your notes, take practice tests, and make sure you have important formulas memorized. Of course, you could just watch The Simpsons, but don't be surprised if your grades turn out more like Bart's than like Lisa's!- As you go over your notes, be sure to highlight all key vocabulary and topics.[3]
Relax. Make sure you get a good night's sleep the night before the test. You'll feel better and think more clearly if you're well rested. Right before your test look over the important formulas one last time, but other than that, you're done preparing. Remember, you're ready for this, and no matter what happens it's not the end of the world.
Pace yourself. Once you have your exam in front of you, look it over to see how many questions there are and what kind of questions are included. This will give you an idea of how much time you can spend on each problem. If you get stuck on a question, move on to the next one and come back later. Sometimes a later question will even jog your memory so that you can answer the one you skipped. Most importantly, don't rush yourself.
Pay attention to neatness. Any math teacher will tell you that sloppy work is the test-taker's worst enemy. Even if you know the material cold, a smudged digit here or a forgotten negative sign there can ruin an entire problem. If you make a mistake, use your eraser--that's what it's there for.
Check your work. Great, you finished the test with plenty of time to spare. Don't turn it in yet, though! Good test-takers make mistakes all the time, but they find them and fix them before they hand in their exams. This can't be stressed enough, you will always find a mistake somewhere. Anyway, depending on what kind of problems you're doing, your teacher will probably give you some hints on how to check your work. In general, though, carefully reread each question and ask yourself if your answers make sense. You still may not get every problem right, but you'll increase your chances of success exponentially.Advertisement
Expert Q&A
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- QuestionHow can you make math easier?
Daron CamDaron Cam is an Academic Tutor and the Founder of Bay Area Tutors, Inc., a San Francisco Bay Area-based tutoring service that provides tutoring in mathematics, science, and overall academic confidence building. Daron has over eight years of teaching math in classrooms and over nine years of one-on-one tutoring experience. He teaches all levels of math including calculus, pre-algebra, algebra I, geometry, and SAT/ACT math prep. Daron holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley and a math teaching credential from St. Mary's College.
Academic TutorFrom a student's perspective, math is a lot of vocabulary. As you take notes, really focus on definitions and breaking things down into simple language. For example, trigonometry is a big word that's easier to understand when you define it as length, angle relationships, and right triangles. - QuestionWhat's the best way to study for a math test?
Grace Imson, MAGrace Imson is a math teacher with over 40 years of teaching experience. Grace is currently a math instructor at the City College of San Francisco and was previously in the Math Department at Saint Louis University. She has taught math at the elementary, middle, high school, and college levels. She has an MA in Education, specializing in Administration and Supervision from Saint Louis University.
Math Instructor, City College of San FranciscoPractice and application is really the best way. For example, if you're studying the Pythagorean theorem, you'd study how the formula was derived and what's it used for and do lots of practice problems until you understand how the theorem works in and out. - QuestionHow can I get better at math?
Community AnswerMath is about numbers. Start by understanding the number line. Practice the skills of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division until you do them without error. Next up are fractions, equality/inequality, parentheses and order of operations. Again practice, practice till you are faultless.The bottom line is that math is built on a handful of fairly simple principles, but you have to truly master them to move on.
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Tips
- Make sure you have a solid understanding of the foundations of math, like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Without a solid foundation, it will be difficult to work on any kind of problems on your test.[4]Thanks
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About this article
Grace Imson, MA
Math Instructor, City College of San Francisco
This article was co-authored by Grace Imson, MA. Grace Imson is a math teacher with over 40 years of teaching experience. Grace is currently a math instructor at the City College of San Francisco and was previously in the Math Department at Saint Louis University. She has taught math at the elementary, middle, high school, and college levels. She has an MA in Education, specializing in Administration and Supervision from Saint Louis University. This article has been viewed 61,978 times.
Co-authors: 13
Updated: March 10, 2022
Views: 61,978
Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 61,978 times.
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