Today, we will be discussing what many might consider a very daunting topic: Examinations.
In general, exams are a test of a person’s skills. It could be any exam; A driving exam is a test of ones driving ability, and a math exam is a test of ones math ability.
Skills, however, are acquired over a period of time. This is why studying and cramming material, mostly in technical subjects such as math, a day before the exam will not work if you haven’t acquired the skills over a period of time. Also, you could’ve spent quite some time studying but you can still fail the math exam. Why? Because there is a high chance you are not skilled in mathematics, thus when your math skills are tested, or examined you fail.
This then means that to do well in a math exam and to do well when your math skills are tested, you have to be good at math in general. You need to get to a point where the day before the exam is just a day to simply and briefly refresh on the material you already know and skills you’ve already acquired.
Now the real question is how do you become generally skilled in a subject like math?
how to be skilled in math
To answer that question, I am going to give you my own personal experience.
When I was in the 8th grade, I was not skilled in math at all. What’s funny is that I did well in all my other subjects, so it was quite frustrating not doing well in mathematics even though I was putting so much effort and time into studying it.
Now, when I studied mathematics, I would study all the rules and all the methods of calculating and solving different types of math problems and that seemed to work when I was doing my homework. Then I would get to the test or exam and get questions that needed me to reason first before using the rules and methods I knew by heart, but because I didn’t know how to do that, I never did well on a test.
I, then, moved into the 9th grade and met a teacher who showed me how to study mathematics. He helped me change my entire approach and for the first time ever mathematics made sense.
His approach was that you need to know what you are doing and why you are doing it. Every time. You can memorize different methods all you want in math but if you don’t know why you are taking those steps, you just become a very inefficient photocopy machine. You won’t be able to adapt or improve that method if necessary.
When I took that philosophy to heart, math started to become more predictable. I, now, understood why when solving math problems, certain problems were solved in certain ways, and I could adapt and improve certain steps if necessary.
Math exams will always need you to improve and adapt the typical method of calculating and solving any sort of problem because they will always hit you with a curve ball in a question and you will need to think your way out of it.
So, to become generally skilled at math, you need to know the rules AND the principles of math. Rules tell you how math works, and principles tell you why math works the way it does, so when doing homework and when studying, don’t just focus on knowing the rules, focus on understanding why it works the way it does.
I have a video that discusses how to study math the right way! Feel free to check it out.
Once you learn how to study well, practice a lot over a long period of time, not just the day before the exam. And when practicing, make sure to practice normal math questions as well as a lot of word problems.
Keep in mind that you have to practice math correctly. How do you do that? Solve problems using methods you understand, not methods you’ve simply memorized. If you don’t understand why a certain step was taken in math, it means there is another principle in this topic you need to find and understand. Never practice techniques you’ve simply memorized and techniques you don’t fully understand because that means you are not skilled and ready for an exam or test covering this topic.
In summary, to do well in a math exam, you need to do well in general. Stop looking for short-term ways to do well in a math exam you are writing the next day. That DOES NOT work. Math doesn’t test you on how well you can memorize, it tests whether you have skills you need to acquire over a period of time. So, get those skills, and you will never be overly anxious about a math exam again.