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Studying maths at Form 5, Form 6, A Levels, or university? Or are you just wanting to brush up on algebra or geometry? Are you finding trigonometric functions, systems of equations, or calculus really difficult? Do you just need some maths advice?
Whether you're desperately looking for how to advance in maths as quickly as possible or you're looking to revise everything you’ve ever done in your mathematics courses and need some maths help online, here are some free tips for you!
When practicing maths, it’s always handy to do a quick brain “update”, particularly when it comes to maths tutorials or remembering formulae and other related theories. The first thing you should do is brush up on your mental arithmetic and discover how you can do it faster.
Superprof also has around twenty tips and tricks for creating an effective mathematical revision programme, as well as some tips that public schools don’t usually teach their students on the national curriculum.
Get ready to get good at maths!
How to Improve your Mental Arithmetic
While it's really important to study Pythagorean theorem, Thales’ theorem, the difference between an isosceles and a right triangle, don't forget mental arithmetic! You mightn't think it's as important as scientific notation, right angles, geometric equations, prime numbers, or Euclidean division, but it is!
You shouldn't set about solving a quadratic equation, working with natural numbers, complex numbers, word problems, and square roots, before you've mastered mental arithmetic!
A calculator is all well and good for these complex algebraic or quadratic equations, but if a learner can't work out an equation (multiplication and division, addition and subtraction) in their head or on a scrap of paper, they’ll always struggle in maths classes.
Learn how to become good at mental arithmetic today!
Get a tutor to help you. The benefits of maths tutoring, whether it's online tutoring in maths, academic support, or private tutorials, make their way into your everyday life such as. This can include:
- Completing maths exercises more quickly,
- Calculating shopping,
- Working out proportionality,
- Exercising your memory and neurons.
A student’s goal, when getting better at maths, is to get to a level where certain answers become a reflex reaction.
Regular, daily mental arithmetic, is therefore essential for this. You don't need to solve polynomial or linear equations, just spend around 10 minutes a day giving your brain a workout.
There are a few things you should know as a base for starting your maths tutorials. Things like the multiplication or times tables, square roots, factorising, and powers, should be considered the basics. Furthermore, you should also add a few tricks to your repertoire like:
- Looking at the last digit in a number, for example:
- Knowing the decimal value of a given fraction,
- Deconstructing numbers for large addition,
- Simplifying numbers for subtraction,
- The order of operations,
- Regrouping units, etc.
How to Improve Your Calculating Skills
Whether support tutorials, homework help, preparing for exams, maths tutorials at school, home, or online, there are plenty of times when you'll need to use maths. It could be when giving a demonstration, doing mental arithmetic classes, looking at logarithmic functions, and while you're in physics or chemistry class.
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But how do you save time by calculating quicker?
Start by going back over the basics of mental arithmetic: multiplying, dividing, adding and subtracting, the square roots up to 15. Learn them off by heart.
We also recommend getting help from a maths tutor with private in-home tutorials, going through a textbook and worksheets. This educator will give you the tools you need.
Tutoring can help you "update" your brain. In fact, a study carried out in California established that the human brain has a storage capacity of around 1 petabyte (1,000GB). With so much new information every day, you’ll need to stay up to date just to have a chance in maths!
Have a look back over the fundamentals of mental arithmetic and applied maths. You should also get straight back into past papers but don't forget to have fun using maths!
How Much Time do You Need to Become Good at Maths?
After having dissected mental arithmetic, we recommend tackling a more complete programme. Read our article on how much time you need to become good at maths.
How many maths classes (academic support, homework help, private tutorials) in total will you need? This is a tricky question. Some people will need regular academic support over the course of the year while others will need intermittent tuition when the need arises.
Maths is a discipline that requires that the student be very organised. If this isn’t the case, then the tutor's methodology is going to be crucial. In this case, we recommend understanding before learning. Understand the ideas and concepts before learning a formula or a theory off by heart. Don’t be tempted to use corrected maths exercises and definitely don’t look at the answer before having tried it yourself!
Finally, paying attention in class, being curious, asking questions, and regular practice are essential for becoming organised and getting good at maths.
Don’t forget that getting good at maths is sometimes as simple as learning to read! Focus on the wording and the vocabulary used. Avoid common mistakes such as: being overconfident, losing concentration, revising on the night of an exam, and relying on a calculator instead of employing mental arithmetic.
10 Strategies for Getting Better Marks in Maths
Let’s have a look at something even more important. Surely all support tutorials, whether tutorials at home or any other class with private maths tutors, must have a purpose? That purpose is usually to get the student better marks, of course!
But how can we get better marks in maths?
Whether you’re in primary school, secondary school, sixth form, or at university, here are our 10 tips to improve your maths marks:
- Fully understand a topic before moving onto the next one,
- Train your memory regularly with maths exercises,
- Always write things down that will help when problem solving,
- Work in a calm environment: bedroom, library, or media library,
- Work on the hardest topics with your friends: differential equations, integers, complex numbers, literal arithmetic, trigonometry, corrected past papers, exponential functions, binomial distribution, normal distribution, probability, symmetry, prediction intervals, etc.
- Make a step-by-step record of your solutions. This will help you solve problems in the future,
- Never write in pen,
- Write drafts with pencil and paper,
- Never revise late at night as it negatively affects your reasoning,
- Illustrate problems or puzzles, which is great for rational thinking.
10 Maths Tricks they Should Teach You at School
Can you recite the digits of Pi after 3.14?
To complete your Olympic maths training programme, you don't need to be a famous mathematician, instead, here are 10 maths tricks that they don’t teach you at school but you should be able to:
- Convert Fahrenheit to Celsius and vice-versa. Perfect for travelling!
- Know the day on any given date of the year. You can do it!
- Multiply or divide large numbers in your head,
- Multiply by 11,
- Remember the digits of Pi,
- Find the square root of any number,
- Add and subtract fractions,
- Recognise products,
- Convert salaries into an hourly rate,
- Square Multiples of 5
Join the discussion: is financial literacy a given when you learn school math?
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