Maths anxiety and how to overcome it
Worrying about not doing well or even failing doesn’t really do you any good. It only uses up energy that could be used for somethings more positive.
What you need to do instead is put your focus on something positive like making sure you pass the exam – and the best way of doing this is to start practicing the types of questions that will be on the exam.
If you put your focus on studying instead of worrying about failing you’ll find that you’ll eventually stop worrying. You may get nervous before the exam but that’s normal.
If you put the time in and study by practising questions then that will take your mind of failing the exam.
And if you do some study and practice 5 days a week during the 3 weeks before the exam then you’re giving yourself a good chance of doing a lot better than if you keep worrying about failing it.
Taking action will nearly always take your mind off unpleasant things – like failing Maths exams.
The Actions You Need To Take
You need to get started right now. Start practicing the same questions that were in the exercises you’ve already done.
If you’ve forgotten everything then start at the beginning of an exercise and make sure you can do the easy questions. Then work your way up to some of the harder questions in the exercise.
Then practice some more tomorrow. And keep doing the same thing every week day if you can until the night before the exam.
Ideally it’s a good idea to get through some questions in each exercise, the chapter review questions, and practice exams – to do this you need plenty of time. As I mentioned earlier 3 weeks before your exams is a good time to start preparing for them.
Chapter Reviews
Another approach is to start with the chapter reviews. Although they do not cover every single type of question in the chapter, they cover the main types of questions. If you get stuck on any of them then you need to go back to that exercise in the chapter and practice some similar questions. By doing the chapter review you are really doing a mini test on that topic.
Once you have done the chapter reviews a good thing to do is to go to all the questions you did get stuck on in each chapter the first time round. Then see if you can get them correct this time. See if you can do them straight off the bat. Without looking at the correct solution.
Once you get through these questions then go to your tests. Re-do them and see if you can get all the questions correct. Again only look at the correct solutions after first having a go yourself.
Then get some practice exams or revision sheets from your teacher. And practice them.
And as usual make sure you correct every single question you do. It is not enough just to do the questions without finding out if they are correct. And of course always ask someone for help if you do get stuck.
A Little Bit Of Study Every Day
The other key element is to do a bit of study each day rather than a whole lot on the weekend in one day. Small (1 hour minimum) consistent efforts will lead you to a better understanding and retention of the Maths. And a more solid foundation that is being re-built day by day.
And the other thing is that you don’t necessarily need to do these suggestions in the order outlined above. You can modify your approach and go straight to the harder questions first. The suggestions above are a guide if you’re not sure where to start. Find out what works for you and start preparing. It is always best to find and use what works for you.
And….the real key for preparing for Maths exams is to practice questions. Don’t spend a lot of time reading notes. You will not be asked questions about your notes. You will be asked how to solve problems. So they are what you need to practice doing.
So get started now if you have been hesitating in making a start on your preparation. Put in as much time early on so you have time up your sleeve if you get stuck later on.