How To Overcome Math Challenges When Learning

Some students dislike Math because they think it’s dull, not exciting. Unlike the excitement they get from languages, history, and other less analytical subjects, they don’t see any excitement in numbers and formulas. They only see math as abstract, irrelevant, and difficult to understand.

Math takes plenty of effort for many students. Practicing it doesn’t come easily and intuitively as it should be. Calculus is a major topic that gives students a lot of headaches.

To move at the same pace with the class, you can meet your colleagues to take you through the basics or find the community that will help you with calculus 1 problems by practicing and resolving more problems. According to surveys, 37% of the students between the ages of 13-17 find math to be their most complicated subject.

The challenges students face when learning this course have made them ‘Mathephobic’ as defined by mathematician Mary de Lellis Gough in 1953 after observing how students struggle with math. The difficulties that they encounter often frustrate them or even make them lose interest in the subject completely.

Math is an important tool for our everyday life. In all aspects of human endeavors, such as accounting, banking, engineering, calculations play a vital role. For this reason, it will be bad if students are not in love with this analytical subject. We will discuss the challenges in learning Mathematics.

Basic concepts are lacking

One of the most common problems while University students are learning math is that they already lack an understanding of the basic concepts. The subject is like building blocks that need a foundation to be laid before going further.

Beware that the blocks will fall apart if the foundation is not properly laid. So, students will only be able to move ahead in class if only they have a clear understanding of the basics. For example, to comprehend the concept of calculus, you need to have an overall comfort with algebra, geometry, and trigonometry.

Too complex to understand

Usually, the deeper you go in learning math, the more abstract it becomes, and the more complex it grows for you to comprehend. There are so many topics in mathematics that appear difficult for students to understand during learning in class or their study.

This usually makes it uncomfortable for many students to admit their difficulties with certain topics in the class before the teacher moves on to the next lesson. This makes students start lagging in class and also struggle through learning.

Sometimes, not enough time is spent in the class during math learning to properly explain or put students through some complex concepts. If a concept is too complex to understand, it needs more time to be taught in class and revisited for students to get a full grasp of it.

Too many formulas to memorize

Many mathematical concepts rely on expressions that compound formulas used in obtaining certain results. These formulas tend to be excessively cumbersome to master and even harder to remember. One can’t compare memorizing the multiplications table to learning the alphabets or reading solving polynomials to reading a comprehension passage. Mathematics is considered difficult in learning majorly because of its diverse complexities.

Some other students manage to memorize the enormous formulas one way or the other but get stuck when it’s time to apply some of them. The problem is they have memorized so much that they become confused about which formula to apply for a problem since there are even some formulas that look a bit alike.

Math is abstract

The abstract nature of Math is one of the problems faced by students. Its existence in just thoughts or ideas without having a physical representation or easy-to-see application makes it difficult for students to comprehend. Students want what they can relate to.

The inability to relate some mathematical concepts to real-life can make the importance of mathematics be questioned. If not properly instructed, one may not understand the efficiency of these formulas and therefore question the importance of the subject.

Time-consuming

Math goes beyond the understanding of the lesson or concepts taught in the class for it to stick and not be lost on one. It takes continuous practice and revisits of the concepts for mastery. Most college students know this. They know they have to keep practicing math to master it. However, their major concern is the consumption of time.

For proper mastery of mathematics, you have to give it most of your hours for the week. That is how much attention it needs but most students are not prepared to spend so much time on it, which leaves them to struggle later on.

Conclusion

It is now apparent to us why most students fail math the way they do. The challenges they are posed with, as we have seen in the article while learning math is not too easily overcome. However, a simplified approach with this seemingly harsh subject will make it appealing for students.

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