How to Study for a College-level Mathematics

This article is written for college students who are just starting out with thier college-level mathematics courses. Since every major has different math requirements, I will try to generalize this as much as possible. Hope, this will help in your study.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Beginner college-level mathematics is divided into three areas; college algebra, college trigonometry, and calculus. Most science majors take up to calculus courses. Other majors like business and finance have to take statistics courses.
   It doesn't matter which college-level math course you start out with, you are going to have to follow the same principles of learning!

2. Learning Principle #1: Always talk to an advisor (a teacher in the field of your interest) before registering for a class. It would be great If you have taken the same class at lower level in your high school. In this situation you are certainly familiar with the subject. If not then please ask your advisor if you can take an elementry class before registering for the real course (required for your major). This prevents you from getting a bad grade on the course that actually counts towards your grade point average. Since, mathematics is one of the difficult courses, you want to be well-prepared as much as possible.
   If you can't sign up for an elementary course then search for all possible good help sources you can find before classes start.

3. Learning Principle #2: In the beginning of the semester, everything will seem way too easy. It doesn't mean that you signed up for an easy course, it only means that your professor is taking it easy on you! Watch, how the second week gets tough all of a sudden. Keeping up with homework assignments, questions about things you don't understand and other activities related to the class definitely help. Do not fall behind! Even if your teacher wants you to add 1 plus 1 only once as homework, make sure you go home and do that. Because this develops your habit of catching up with stuff you're suppose to be doing on time. Don't expect that your teacher will always ask you to add 1 plus 1 only once as the semester progress. You might end up adding 1 plus 1 two-hundred times in your next homework assignment. If you haven't done y
   your first homework like others, you will have one extra addition to do. The point is that workload gradually increases in math classes so always keep up with new learning.

4. Learning Principle #3: Form study groups but not with people who only get together to talk about the movies, fashion and gossip. If you initiate a study group, make sure to take charge at all times and do not let your focus slip away from math to something else. If you join a study group then kindly remind your buddies why you joined the group at the first place if you find them distracting.

5. Learning Principle #4: Most college professors are the nicest human beings on earth (as far as my experience goes). They would love nothing more than to give you their professionaly and proper attention. Ask questions as much as you can. This also gives teachers some feeling of how they are teaching in class. Next time you might find your teacher explaining things in much more clear ways. There is no such thing as dumb questions especially when it is logically related to your learning so ask away! Also, try to discuss solutions with your instructors so they don't feel like an answering machine. Treat them with respect the way you treat your parents. You will get frustrated tons of times during your learning process. Develop a professional attitude to deal with it and never let it out on your classmates and teachers. You can reduce anxiety by asking as many questions as you want and by discussing the things you don't understand in a cool, educated manner.
   
   Hope, you will make a great mathematics student!

[SarahElizabeth]

on 10/5/2009 Very good article... I wish I had read this when I was starting college. 5*