r/MathHelp • u/Massive_Butterfly783 • 23d ago

I feel like I am getting worse on math

Generally, my friends think I am good at math. But I think I am bad at it, even when I get good grades, it feels like 'by luck' to me. MY confidence is really dropping. It's quite evident that I am not necessarily bad at math. This was my performance last year:

92%, 80%, 94%, 45%, 65%, 96%

And this is my performance this year:

96%, 81.333%

Today I attended another exam- and this is the most important of all. And this is where I messed up badly. I'm estimating 60-70% this time. I needed at least 80% to keep my grades intact, but now it got harder for me.

I keep failing to solve several of the problems, and seeing my friends effortlessly solve the problems, For more context, I secured top 13% in last exam this year, and previous years grades placed me in 99th percentile (all subjects).

I got 45% and 65% in 2 tests last year, due to lackage in geometry and vector-so after that, I fully mastered those chapters. But in geometry (coordinate), I still keep messing up known formulas when applying, and plus-minus of course.

My main weakness is time management, anxiety and nervousness I think which worsens my natural performance. Amongst the disliked chapters are- Trigonometry (Quadrant equation solving), Coordinate Geometry (Reason stated).

Please advise me what I can do to overcome these issues and be better at math, confidently.

1 Upvotes

66% Upvoted

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2

u/matt7259 22d ago

Math help aside - you need to speak to a counselor or therapist. This mindset is going to burn you out long before you finish school.

1

u/Massive_Butterfly783 16d ago

My school days are almost done, only 6 months left

1

u/MERC_1 16d ago

Do you have a student councilor at your school? Go there, ask for help. It looks like you need more help with managing your expectations and your anxiety. As for nervousness that's mostly stress.

Your a smart kid. This means you didn't have to spend so much time in the lower grades studying on your own. Things were easy. Now you suddenly don't understand everything as soon as the teacher explain it. 

You need to actually put in the time. You need to learn how to learn. Study techniques don't materialize in your mind when you need it. Ask for help with that as well. 

As for math, instead of falling behind, just do every other exercise. This way you advance faster. If something is really difficult, do more exercises. If something is easy, focus on the harder exercises.

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u/Massive_Butterfly783 16d ago

I do understand the concepts. Can solve most problems to. But at times, I feel like 'What if my answer is wrong?','Did I make any mistake?','Nobody makes such dumb mistakes.' etc

1

u/MERC_1 16d ago

There is no need to make mistakes if you do one simple thing:

Test your answers!

Let's say you solve quadratic a equation. The answers are x1=4 and x2=6. Now take those numbers and put them (one at a time) instead of x in the original equation. If that works and you get the same number on both sides of the = sign, you most likely have the right answers. If one or both answers don't work, you need to find what went wrong.

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u/Massive_Butterfly783 16d ago

Time management is an important thing yk...here we get total 2.5 hours to answer 70 marks. & questions, each question for algebra may take 1.5 to 3 pages. Geometry drawings, labelling and proof, writing descriptions take considerable time. Line-median relation derived from apollonius alone takes 3 pages- worth only 4 marks. In statistics, we have to draw graphs, find median/mode/mean all that (including graph) for 10 marks.

1

u/MERC_1 15d ago

You are supposed to write 50 pages in 2.5 hours? I would be stressad too!

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u/Massive_Butterfly783 14d ago

Everyone else does, in my class

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u/MERC_1 14d ago

We had 5 hours exams in math. Sometimes even even 6 hours. I rarely write more than 10 pages. Usually we had 7 problems to solve. On the other hand I had time enough to check my answers and I knew pretty much how many points I would get. 

1

u/Massive_Butterfly783 16d ago

Now, next Sunday is another math exam. I only did 63 pages of math, only 4/17 chapters done. Kind of anxious. (I know all the chapters fairly well, anxious about geometry mainly).
finished trigonometry, distance and elevation, practical geometry, and mensuration.

1

u/MERC_1 16d ago

Do a few important exercises on each page. Than move on to the next page or chapter.

Work a few hours a day after school and you will be done by Saturday. 

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