8 strategies to improve your mathematical skills.

Math is probably not our favorite subject, at least for a lot of us! While math is tough and most of us struggle with math at some point in our lives, it is, however, one of the most basic and fundamental things to learn in our lives.

We all use mathematical concepts in our day-to-day lives. Right from understanding shapes and spaces to comparing stock market prices, Math is part of the most mundane activities in our lives like; calculating distance and time or negotiating a price during shopping. Therefore, the understanding of mathematical concepts and improving one’s maths skills are important for a successful future.

At Sherwood High we believe in the importance of mathematics and no matter how tough you find it to be, by building up your skills and practicing every day while following these simple strategies mentioned in the blog you can make math a lot less frustrating for yourself and have a higher chance of success with your math abilities.

If you are one of those students desperately trying your luck surfing the net on questions such as “How do I improve my math skills?” or “what can I do to improve my math skills?”, you are at the right place because we will look at the top 5 things you can do to improve your math skills in this blog.

1. Have fun with math:

Most of us experience or investigate things by engaging with them through play, which is a process shaped by our curiosity. While the word math may make us feel worried or put a lot of stress on us, making it fun could be the key to improving our math skills.

There are so many enjoyable games we can play with our friends or peers, such as card games, memory games, chess, there are also many online games that one could try, such as prodigy, Polyup, and Monopoly. 

So by playing these kinds of games, you will not only test your maths skills but you will be improving in it on a daily basis, without you even realizing it.

2. Practice makes perfect:

Nothing can get us closer to success than practice. So make math part of your daily life and practice it without consciously thinking about it, by taking all the real-life opportunities you can get to improve your math skills. 

From something as simple as calculating your lunch according to what you are buying or calculating the discount percentage on a sweatshirt on sale to calculating the time you need to finish your errands, this will help you feel more comfortable with math itself.

Apart from this, you can always work on solving additional problems of the same kind if you are struggling with one.  You will eventually come up with a strategy that is helpful to you and reduce the difficulty level. While you become more confident with the simplified problems, finding the solutions will eventually come with ease.

3. Real-life application:

As mentioned above, math is involved in our everyday lives, and we can turn these actual life experiences into exercises for math practice.

So the next time you go shopping, you can discuss prices, mentally calculate your bill and discount percentages to improve mental math and your overall mathematical skills.

Another interesting, and easy way to Improve mathematical skills is to help with cooking or baking. Weighing, measuring, doubling, reducing ingredients according to your recipe will help you familiarise yourself with quantities, additions- deletions, multiplications, temperatures, time-keeping, and cooking units.

4. Conceptual understanding:

Memorizing formulas may help complete your homework but that does not necessarily mean that you understood the underlying concept behind the formula.

We need to think, evaluate and use reasoning skills to find the answers, rather than simply memorize rules.

When we actively use the newly learnt concepts which we have understood thoroughly, we can absorb that knowledge into our long-term memory more efficiently.

5. A little online help is always useful:

Don’t we all love technology? And isn’t Google our best friend when we need to get an answer for something?

So let’s use our love for technology and test out our curiosity in a beneficial way.

There are tons of resources available online, for when we’re having trouble with certain concepts.

It is also easier to learn and understand math at our own pace. Checking out multiple free online courses on YouTube, using interactive e-books and podcasts can help us learn and develop our maths skills in a fun, and tangible manner.

6. Visual representations and diagrams:

One of the best strategies to help you learn math better is to create visual representations and diagrams for abstract concepts.

By doing this, you are making abstract concepts more concrete, which makes them easily recognizable while solving problems.

For example, when you are learning concepts about area and perimeter, you can draw geometric shapes on paper and assign the required values to the diagram. You may then use this diagram and solve the problem using the given formula. This is one of the best ways to improve math skills to achieve outstanding success in maths-related fields such as engineering and architecture as well.

7. Build confidence and a positive attitude:

The majority population feels that their lack of confidence is an issue that prevents them from succeeding in mathematics. 

Along with practicing and working on problems, you also need to build confidence and a positive attitude towards math.

If you have a negative impression about math, that it is hard or difficult, it’ll further make you lose confidence and interest. 

So, rather look at math with a positive approach by seeing it challenging and working on problems with interest and enthusiasm.

8.  Find a study buddy:

Math is more fun and easier to learn when you have a Buddy to study with, just like any other subject. 

It is a known fact that learning by teaching somebody else is actually a great way to solidify concepts. 

So when you and your friend go over concepts, help each other while either gets stuck and explain to each other what you are doing and how you’re doing it, this will help you a great deal in understanding clearly and concisely what you are learning.

To sum it up:

Now that you have these awesome tips, go ahead and ace that math test!