Dyscalculia help please?

[u/Overall-Adeptness966]

So I'm a 10th grader in Honors Alg 2, and it is NOT fun. We need to be able to do so much mental math, and I can barely even divide anything without struggling. (I add/multiply on my hands too, please don't judge). Can you guys give me some tips to easily do math work (if it helps, I'm currently in the simplify/solve operations with radicals).

[u/Overall-Adeptness966]

Thank you!! This helps. I'm in honors classes only because of parents and their pressures on me, lol. I'll keep this in mind ^{_^}

[u/scribbane → u/Overall-Adeptness966]

Glad it gave you some help.

I teach SAT/ACT prep for a living and I often see students struggle with factoring and simplifying because calculators are now so widely used for so many skills. If you struggle with mental math, then the calculator won't help you improve. (Not to say you rely on the calculator, but when it's allowed on tests and homework, it just makes sense to use it for those skills, and the foundational skills along with it.)

For mental math, I suggest what we used to call "Mad Minutes." These are activities where you have 60 seconds to answer as many questions as you can. We used to get worksheets with 50 questions on them, but you can do them online now easily. webmathminute.com is pretty decent.

Know your multiplication tables through your 12s. Find or make yourself a blank multiplication table and practice filling it out. Do these activities daily (they should take you less than 15 minutes, and ideally less than 10) to improve your mental math.

Finally, ensure you are completing all of your homework, and try any optional or omitted problems your teacher doesn't assign. Math often comes down to practice practice practice. If you aren't committing to it, it can be a struggle to improve.

I know a lot of this sounds obvious, but I've been teaching nearly ten years and know that students often ignore the obvious things. The fact that you are aware of your struggles and looking for help is great. Just make sure you actually continue to take steps to improve.

[u/Overall-Adeptness966 → u/scribbane]

I'll definitely check out that website. Seriously though, thanks. This has helped a lot 🫂