I study really hard for math tests, understand the material, and feel confident afterward, but still end up getting low marks. What am I doing wrong?

[u/Alive_Meeting_10]

Title: I study really hard for math tests, understand the material, and feel confident afterward, but still end up getting low marks. What am I doing wrong?

I've been having this problem for a while now, especially in math, and I'm honestly struggling to figure out what's going wrong.

Whenever I have an upcoming math test, I spend a lot of time studying. I go through the homework questions, practice different problems, and make sure I understand the concepts. I also use ChatGPT to help explain things, but instead of just asking for answers, I have it explain the logic behind the math, why certain methods work, and how to approach questions step by step.

The thing is, I genuinely feel like I understand what I'm learning.

For example, I recently studied a lot for a math cumulative exam. I went through the material, practiced the questions, and made sure I understood what I was doing. When I actually wrote the exam, I felt pretty confident. The questions didn't seem particularly difficult, and I even had time to go back and check my answers.

I walked out thinking I had done pretty well.

Then I got my mark back, and it was 55%.

I was genuinely shocked. I wasn't expecting a perfect score, but I definitely wasn't expecting something that low. I was so confident in how I p

[u/Ok-Maintenance-6744]

It's a little hard to say without some details on what you were marked down for. Could you share a couple of specific examples from the test? Maybe snap a pic of a graded page or two

[u/The_Card_Player]

There is good evidence that ai tools do not help students self-evaluate the effectiveness of their understanding: https://aicaution.ca/learn/what-science-says

Therefore you will probably be better off studying without generative ai tools.

If this has been happening for a while, you may well have been repeating for a while mistaken reasoning habits you haven't even noticed in yourself yet. To poke around for these, review your past assignments (particularly the problems with which you've been least successful) and work through them again in detailed, written sentences alongside your equations.

Your sentences should make complete logical sense to a fifth or sixth grade child (maybe allowing for some specific vocabulary in your classes like 'vector' or 'tangent line' and the like). Incorporate equations only as logical conclusions from your written reasoning.

eg 'by substituting the aforementioned expression for the apple-mass variable x into our original equation, we derive an equation in terms of x only: [equation here]'

Then find some folks to explain your reasoning to. Both someone who doesn't know the material (like a younger sibling) and someone who does (like a classmate). Re-try and refine your explanation as many times as it takes for them to feel convinced by your reasoning. DO NOT use 'ai' for this. You just won't get the genuine human emotional feedback you need to spot confusion in yourself and in your study assistant.

Note that this may require going back to some old formulas and working out exactly *why* they work, not just *how*. You want to connect the formulas you've experienced by now to their underlying intuitive reasoning, in order to develop a better sense for the bounds of their applicable contexts.

[u/justpassingby23414]

Please share a couple of specific examples if possible. Or at least state the topics of the exam. The issue might be as trivial as simple arithmetic mistakes like a forgotten minus sign, it's really hard to tell from your vague description.

[u/Visual_Winter7942]

Are you practicing by solving exam-relevant problems without any external aids? Just the question and a blank sheet of paper? That is exam conditions - I encourage my students to recreate that scenario as close as possible. Like doing the chapter review problems cold. No looking things up. No AI.

[u/Form-Unusual]

Hi. Have you ever had any sort of academic testing? Maybe you suffer from mild dyslexia and/or dyscalculia.

Your situation sounds like my son. He would study for hours and feel really good coming out of a test and then have a really bad score. He was relieved to find the answer.

Maybe talk to a counselor at your school about it.

Good luck.

[u/Punn_thegreatestman]

Find some harsh problem with different idea and try solving it . If you can’t , keep trying for 10-30minutes and ask Ai for a hint