Live My Life - Tips Study Mathematics Blog - Blogger

Posted: 06 Jun 2014 07:57 AM PDT

I know everyone has different ways to study Add Maths. I write this post is to share my ways to study add math and I hope my study tips may help those who need it.

Ok, there's a quote for you: Keep calm and learn Add Maths.

I only found this picture. :P Haha...So, keep calm and love add maths.

Quite many of my friends asked me before: How do you learn additional mathematics? So, I try to write this post.

Year 2012 - I started my student life as a science student. Have to study AddMaths. When I first study chapter 1 - function, I thought it was not so difficult. So, for my revision, I just read the notes given, and do homeworks and exercises given by our add maths teacher. (This tips work) I bought exercise book for add maths, but I was quite lazy to do it everyday. So, I did it every week. (This won't really work)In March, we had monthly test. I was not so satisfied with the marks that time.

Day by day, I found that Add Maths is different from mathematics, it is more difficult. I was quite stress that time and always get frustrated when I can't find a solution for a question. But, just don't want to give up.

One day, I asked my addmaths teacher: How to learn addmaths? The answer is: Do more exercise. I asked my teacher again: What is the simplest way to learn addmaths? The answer is: Do more exercise lor. Well, same answer, I decided to do more exercises for addmath. (This tips really work. That's why when my friends asked me how do I learn addmaths, my answer will always be: DO MORE EXERCISES.)

So, I tried. Everyday, I took 1 hour to do addmaths exercise. I found that addmaths actually is so interesting and challenging. No matter what, everyday I will do exercise for addmaths at least 30minutes. After that, I found that addmath is not so difficult as what I thought before. For the next exam, I was able to score for my additional mathematics.

Year 2013 - For SPM, I achieved my target for addmath and get the grade that I targeted.

Ok, that's part of my story, the point is NEVER GIVE UP.

Come to the study tips:

- You need to pay attention in class. Listen to what teacher are teaching.

- You have to finish all the exercises/assignments given by your teacher. Listen to your teacher's advice.

- You need to have a reference book. I suggest you to buy Pelangi/Oxford one.

- You need to buy exercise book for additional mathematics and do all the exercises. For suggestion, you should buy exercise book which there are steps for the answer. I used "1201 Bank Soalan Matematik Tambahan"(Pan Asia Publication), Cerdik Publication also not bad (Fly High series if i am not mistaken, during my year lah...)

- For SPM candidates, you should do SPM past years questions. Somemore, you should do Koleksi Kertas Percubaan SBP. You should also do all the SPM trial papers, for me, I use Pelangi one.

- For your timetable, try to get 1 hour or at least 30 minutes for your AddMaths revision.

- Form a study group. You will not get bored when you study addmath with you friends in the form of study group. You can ask them when you have question and discuss with each other. (This tips really work for me. When I don't know how to solve a question, I will discuss with my friends. And when we got to solve the problem together, we'll feel happy and satisfied. :D )

- You should ask teacher when you have problem or you cannot solve a question. You must listen and pay attention when your teacher is teaching about the steps in solving the problem.

- When doing your addmaths homework, you can listen to mp3. Listen to your favourite song or some relaxing music. This can help in reducing stress.

- You need to UNDERSTAND. Learning additional mathematics is not like learning history or reading novel. You need to understand the concepts. It won't work if you memorize.

- You need to MASTER the formulas.

- Don't just think harder, you need to THINK SMARTER.

- When doing exercises for addmath, remember to write the answer STEP BY STEP. This is important to keep it as habit, so that during exam, you won't skip the step for your solution.

- Don't be stress when study addmath.

- Be well prepared for the exam. All the best! ;)

- Always think positive and believe that you can do it! Never give up! Ok?

I think these are what I can share. Maybe my study tips are not the best tips and maybe not complete, but hopefully can be helpful. If you don't think the tips are useful/helpful, please go refer to other people study tips especially the PRO one. :)

*** Sorry if I've wrote something wrong especially for the grammar mistakes. Thank you for reading my blog. :)

How to Study for GRE Math | Magoosh GRE Blog

Posted: 14 Mar 2013 09:41 AM PDT

So you've bought a few of the major test prep books, and you're ready to rip into the quantitative part. You'll read through each book, page by page, and by the end, GRE math mastery will be yours. If only!

Studying for the GRE math is actually much more complicated than the above. Indeed many become quickly stymied by such an approach, feeling that after hundreds of pages and tens of hours they've learned very little.

To avoid such a thing befalling you, keep in mind the following important points on how to study for the GRE math section (and how not to!).

The GRE Math formula trap

How can formulas be bad, you may ask? Aren't they the lifeblood of the GRE math? Actually, formulas are only so helpful. And they definitely aren't the lifeblood of the quant section. That would be problem-solving skills.

Many students feel that all they have to do is use the formulas and they can solve a question. The reality is you must first decipher what the question is asking. Only at the very end, once you know how the different parts come together, can you "set up" the question.

All too often, many students let the formulas do the thinking. By that I mean they see a word problem, say a distance/rate question, and instead of deconstructing the problem, they instantly come up with d(distance) = r(rate) x t(time) and start plugging in parts of the question. In other words, they expect the question to fall neatly into the formula. To illustrate, take a look at the following question:

Two cyclists, Mike and Deborah, begin riding at 11:00 a.m. Mike rides at a constant rate of 40 kilometers per hour (kph), and Deborah rides at a constant rate of 30 kph. At noon Mike stops for lunch. At what time, will Deborah pass Mike, given that she continues at a constant rate?

Students are tempted to immediately rely on the d = rt formula. They think: Do I use the formula once for Mike and once for Deborah? Or just once? But which person do I use it for?

This an unfortunate quandary; the solution to the question relies on figuring out how many miles Mike has gone in one hour and how many miles behind him Deborah is (there is no formula for this conceptual step). Only at that point, does one use the d = rt formula. The answer, by the way, is 12:20 minutes.

This is but one example from one concept. But if you find yourself stuck in a problem with only a formula or two in hand, remember that the essence of problem solving is just that: solving the problem using logic, so you can use the formula when appropriate.

How to study for GRE math? Use training wheels!

Many students learn some basic concepts/formulae and feel that they have the hang of it. As soon as they are thrown into a random fray of questions, they become discombobulated, uncertain of exactly what problem type they are dealing with.

Basic problems, such as those you find in the Manhattan GRE math books, are an excellent way to begin studying. You get to build off the basic concepts in a chapter and solve problems of easy to medium difficulty. This phase, however, represents the "training wheels."

Actually riding a bike, much like successfully answering a potpourri of questions, hinges on doing GRE math practice sessions that take you out of your comfort zone. In other words, you should try a few questions chosen at random. Opening up the Official Guide to the GRE and doing the first math questions you see is a good start. Even if you haven't seen the concept, just so you can get a feel for working through a question will limited information.

Oftentimes students balk at this advice, saying, "but I haven't learned how to X, Y, or Z yet." The reality is that students can actually solve many problems based on what they already know. However, because the GRE "cloaks" its questions, many familiar concepts are disguised in a welter of verbiage or other such obfuscation.

Quantitative Section tunnel vision

Some students become obsessed with a certain question type, at the expense of ignoring equally important concepts. For instance, some students begin to focus only on algebra, forgetting geometry, rates, counting and many of the other important concepts.

This "tunnel vision" is dangerous; much as the "training wheels" phase lulls you into a false sense of complacency, only doing a certain problem type atrophies the part of your math brain responsible for being able to identify the type of question and the steps necessary to solve it.

The really high-hanging fruit

This is a subset of "tunnel vision." Really speaking, it is a more acute case. To illustrate, some students will spend an inordinate amount of time learning permutations and combinations problems. The time they could have spent on more important areas, such as number properties and geometry, is squandered on a question type that, at most, shows up twice on the GRE.

The metaphor of the "really high-hanging fruit" captures this aptly: Would you climb to the very top of the tree to grab the meager combinations/permutations fruit, when right within your grasp are the luscious number properties fruit?

Bad math prep sources

Many of the sources out there do not offer practice content that is as difficult as what you'll see on the test. Some, such as Princeton Review, offer a meager number of sets with a mixture of questions types. Basically, the book never takes you out of the training wheel phase.

Other content has questions in which you can easily apply a formula without first having to "crack" the problem. Again, such books will leave you woefully unprepared for the actual GRE.

By the way, students who use Magoosh GRE improve their scores on average by 8 points on the new scale (150 points on the old scale.) Click here to learn more.

About the Author

Chris Lele has been helping students excel on the GRE, GMAT, and SAT for the last 10 years. He is the Lead Content Developer and Tutor for Magoosh. His favorite food is wasabi-flavored almonds. Follow him on Google+!

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