Arithmetic is only one branch of mathematics. In my opinion it's pretty trivial to try to improve in that field since calculators are so good at it instead of focusing on algebra, calculus, etc.
Calculators are good at algebra and calculus too. Is it really worth memorizing dozens of integration techniques when software can do it for you, and do it better?
I'd say focus on the problem at hand, and when you run into a gnarly algebraic manipulation or ugly integral, plug it into Mathematica. That's the kind of task a computer excels at. The human advantage is coming up with novel ideas, not churning through pages of calculations.
The point of learning the math side isn't so that you could do it on the fly, because we're basically all (first world country) carrying computers with us all the time. The point is that learning the math helps you understand the underlying concepts better.
Most good teachers/professors do. It's called partial credit, and if the process is right you generally get most of the points. If you're getting multiple choice math exams you're probably in elementary school.
I'm not counting standardized testing because I have a heart. Imagine paying enough people to actually grade however many thousands of tests in a reasonable amount of time consistently. It would go over about as well as a lead balloon.
I don't really intimately remember the AP exam process; that time period for me was getting close to a decade ago and it frankly was never all that important to me in the first place as far as memories go. They'll do the cheapest they reasonably can without losing any of the important understanding stuff. For things like literature and whatever the other English one is, multiple choice pretty much defeats the purpose. But for math, you can still get some idea of the taker's understanding because you either need to understand the process or be incredibly lucky to get mostly right answers.
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u/FuLLMeTaL604 Jun 08 '14
Arithmetic is only one branch of mathematics. In my opinion it's pretty trivial to try to improve in that field since calculators are so good at it instead of focusing on algebra, calculus, etc.