pythgaoras:

hey!! i hit my first goal of 100 followers, so i figured, why not make a masterpost? especially about math my bestest subject in the world?? (english certainly isn’t) so here you go, here’s a post full of tips and tricks that i’ve found useful for studying this class! 

making sure u don’t fail before the class hasn’t even begun!!!

• read. the. textbook. read it. even if you don’t do the problems, you’ll still have a head start over other people. 
• for you high schoolers and middle schoolers out there, try to get your textbook over the summer! i know that if your school lets you rent them, they’re often wildly expensive, and so try to find some online :D 
• if you know what math you’re doing, then definitely go and look it up on the internet! check out some of the websites that i’ve linked down below :’) 
• i know it’ll still be somewhat of a break, so if you’re checking it out over summer, try to space it all out! treat yourself to reading a few lessons a day, and spend one to two hours on it. and if you’re a procrastinator (like me), and will inevitably end up cramming at the end of the summer, break it up into really sizable chunks, like “do the practice problems for section 1.1″ and then once you’re done with that, bring out that tiny cheerleader in your head and keep going with the next tiny chunk! 

now that’s started, what do i do???

oh wow, imaginary audience, i’m so glad you asked! 

• ok so homework- everyone always says to do it. but i know people who never do their math homework (myself included, oops), and so if you don’t enjoy doing problems over and over again, here’s another way around, something which is really important: 
•  learn the reason behind something. 
• do you see that, big and bold (i hope)?? if you’re practicing formulas- derive them. theorems? prove them. learning them makes math more fun in general. (i’m so empathetic oh gosh but math really does get a bad rep) learning the ways around them creates such a fascination with the subject and it makes it much easier to remember, as well! honestly i use this so much and it makes math so much more entertaining 
• !!! pay attention in class guys, it will help everything make so much more sense. plus, sometimes your teacher will actually teach (who knew that, right :’) ) and at home, you’ll be able to brush through your homework in a breeze! 
• however, you should always try to learn things at home. i’m of the belief that you should learn the concepts at home, and clarify in class. your teacher will add extra information that you might to know, and you’ll already know what you need help with to ask them then! 
• take notes! i know in some people’s cases, they already get a notes packet, and to be honest, writing them out is better. and writing notes during class will solidify your memory of it. plus, writing down any extra practice problems will be mucho help for your tests. 
• write down the practice problems. you will need it. 
• wow i sound so harsh D:

oh, dang the test is tomorrow and i haven’t studied…

never fear! an expert procrastinator is here to help you out :) 

• first off, let’s say your test is in a few weeks and you just had a quiz. study what you did in the beginning of the chapter first. the end will still be fresh in your mind, and you can come back to that later. 
  
• now onto my area of expertise- procrastination, or studying the day before an exam. 
• the first step i always take is rewriting my notes, and this is something i recommend. don’t make them pretty- save that for after your lesson. no, make them scrawled fast, write them twice or three times if you have to. that way, you’ll already have the big chunks in your memory. 
• find old exams, but don’t do every problem. do maybe every three, or every other in a section. make sure to do every problem every section!!! that way you save time but still manage to go over your concepts. 
• do practice problems from the textbook! those always help a lot, but sometimes, your teacher has problems that go above and beyond. here’s where this next step comes in…..
• do the practice problems you wrote down in class! yes, these come straight from the teacher’s brain. the test also comes from the teacher’s head. see what i mean? chances are, you’ll have at least 5-30 from every section, which is really helpful! 

websites 4 u 

• khan academy - my love, my life
  
• purplemath - so helpful, 10/10 recommend it! 
• sparknotes math - haven’t used it, but have heard amazing things about it
• that’s all the websites i have oops i need to save my google searches more

goodbye from me 2 u 

• if u fail a test it is ok. i know people that are much smarter than me (an a to a+ math student) and get lower grades than i do. it’s all subjective, even when math may not seem like it
• i was so formal here i am not pls i am not that mean
• i hope this helped!!!! xx