How to Succeed in a Math Course
Warning: the following will take regular work and effort on your part.
- Place yourself in the right course. If you have big gaps in what you are supposed to know in a course, then drop back and fill in the gaps.
- Study as often as you can and do ALL the assigned work. Don't skip the harder problems.
- Develop a habit of checking your work and redoing it until it is right.
- Try to understand the ideas and don't just memorize.
- If you don't understand what you are doing, are lost, and/or the course is not going well, then seek help.
- Talk to other students and the professor about the course, about problems, about the ideas in the course.
- Get moral support from family and friends.
- Make sure that you have enough time to spend on the course. The traditional rule of thumb is that you should spend two hours out of class on the course for every hour in class. But for a challenging course you may need more.
- Don't take more courses than you can do well in.
Here is a study method that may make a big difference in your performance in mathematics. I've seen it take students from a D grade to a B grade. But it takes time and regular work, and it may take a month or so to make a difference.
For each problem in your homework:
- Write the problem at the top of a blank sheet of paper.
- Work through the problem without looking at the book or notes and without asking anyone until you get stuck.
- When you get stuck you can look at the book or notes or ask someone.
- If you got help from book, notes, or a person, then go back to step 1 and start all over again.
You know your stuff when you can work through the problem and get it right (you must get it correct, so check it!) without getting any help from book/notes/people.
Otherwise you don't know your stuff!
The above technique is especially good to do in studying for an exam. It will tell you what you don't know, so you won't misjudge how ready you are for the exam.