Well I just had my pre-calc test last night and I did pretty poorly. In the past, I would ace just about any test I took. I even knew the material but just couldn’t conjure up the formulas in my head. It was frustrating since it was just algebra review, which I aced before but it has been 12 years now. I am having a hard time of learning how to coordinate school and enough study time along with homework into my daily work routine. I know I can pull it off, but I need to reflect abit on how. Anybody else have this problem getting back into the groove?
Well anyway I am off to my Bio class!
Finding that groove can take time. For me, it really is about coming up with an organizational plan. You may want to sit down in a calm moment and go over your syllabus for math (or any other classes) with your daily/weekly/monthly planner. Mark your calendar with the dates of the exams and then work backwards to figure out how many chapters the exams will cover, etc.
When I started doing this and came up with a chapter by chapter game-plan of where I needed to be in terms of my reading, written assignments, etc, I realized that I hadn’t been putting in enough time focusing on the tasks that needed to be done. Simply taking that organizational step made all the difference for me.
It’s tough at first…hang in there and you’ll get the hang of it!
kris
I’m right there with you! My last serious math class was back in 1988, but that class was sufficient as a pre-req for the precalc class I am taking now. Like you, I did not perform well on my first test. I went to my instructor last week to talk about the possibility of dropping the class due to being insufficiently prepared. She informed me that I had done much better than she had expected me to do (I had been having serious difficulties keeping up with the online content in the course), and better than the class average. She advised me to “hang in there,” and that I would have time after the next test to withdraw without a grade if I am still dissatisfied with my own performance. That is really all the encouragement I needed. I’ve gotten better at attacking the content, so I expect to do much better on the next exam (trig functions, identities, equations, graphing & calculator utilization). Cliche’, but true… if I can do it, ANYBODY can do it. 
Tim
You guys may want to consider finding out what the book is for the pre-req to pre-calc at your school. Buy it or check it out of the library and then hit it like mad where it applies to what you are currently doing.
It’s a lot of extra work, but it will help!
I had to do this in some of my grad school classes and I was fascinated to discover that applying knowledge from a lower-level class to a newer process actually caused me to understand the material better than I had the first time around.
kris
That is great advice. Unfortunately, it is a little late to help me now. I did purchase my books for my classes as soon as the booklist was available from the university, however. Studying a few chapters ahead in my Chemistry text helped a lot when I took my Gen Chem classes this summer. Just be careful not to purchase books too early. Some professors (like my wife =P ) decide to use a different book every semester!
Tim
Another piece of advice I’d offer (wow, if I could only offer up all of this help to myself 
) is to visit your prof often during office hours (or make an appointment). You will get some extra help and it gives them a chance to get to know you and see how hard you are trying. I alwasy went in having tried a few extra problems etc…
This was a big benefit, especially when it came to applying to grad school for me. The class I struggled the most in ended up being my biggest boost. The prof wrote me a great letter of rec.
kris
I second Kris’s suggestion. As a math major and a former calculus grader (I know, I’m the enemy!), it definitely helped to:
a. when doing the homework, circle any problems that you get stuck on. Go to your professor’s office hours the next day to go through those problems/concepts together.
b. even if you don’t have exact questions, make sure to stop by office hours occaisionally to reveiw concepts. Teachers are often willing to offer more insight during office hours, and they tend to remember faces/names and effort when your grade is on the bubble.
c. complete ALL of your homework assignments. Math is this huge psychological road-block for many who really are bright but just don’t have the patience to put in the effort. Its about learning rules and then learning how to apply those rules, and practice is the only way to get it.
I definitely gave my students that completed all of their HW and asked continual questions the benefit of the doubt at the end of the semester. Effort is the key.
Dreamchaser!
Don’t give up! As I worte in some other post - in my first gen chem test I got 65 or so! In my first physics test I got even less. And I ended up having As in both of these classes. At least with me it’s almost always the case that I start with ‘a hickup’ in order to do better!!! Try to figure out what went wrong this time? Was it your method of studing? Too little time? And try to fix it. Stop by after the class and talk to your teacher. Make sure he knows you and is aware that you are serious about the class. That helps a lot.
Good luck,
Kasia
I just looked at my grade for my last Pre-calc exam. I got an 85%. I’m not jumping for joy, but I’m not ready to drop the class, either. The recent section of material is arguably the hardest in terms of stuff to remember, and I think I’ve found my “zone” for optimizing my study time (for this class, anyhow). My confidence is up, along with my average for the class. Back in my undergrad days, I’d probably have dropped the class, or just gotten depressed and given up by now. Now I feel like I have some academic inertia. It’s going to take more than a minor difficulty or two to stop me now. 
Just stay focused… you’ll get there too!
Tim
Way to go Tim! Keep up the hard work!
Well I had to let my pre-calc go. I found I was spending way to much time with homework and wasn’t getting enough work hours in to survive. On top of that I had a biology course start at another school. I decided to review the supportive algebra and pursue some of the pre-calc on my own to be more prepared for it the next semester. Biology however is going great! I have Aced every quiz, lab and test so far.
Don’t feel too bad about that. Now, you have a better idea about where your limits are. I was ready to dump my pre-calc class too, but I barely managed to pull it out of the fire. I still have a pretty good potential to screw it up if I’m not careful. 
Polish your problem areas in your “spare” time, and blow it out of the water when you take it again. Whatever you do, don’t waste time beating yourself up about it! When I stumble I think about that marathon analogy. There is still a long way to go & there are lots of places to fall down… keep your eyes on the road ahead & keep moving. You’ll get there.
Tim
- T_Forsythe Said:
I just looked at my grade for my last Pre-calc exam. I got an 85%. I'm not jumping for joy, but I'm not ready to drop the class, either. The recent section of material is arguably the hardest in terms of stuff to remember, and I think I've found my "zone" for optimizing my study time (for this class, anyhow). My confidence is up, along with my average for the class. Back in my undergrad days, I'd probably have dropped the class, or just gotten depressed and given up by now. Now I feel like I have some academic inertia. It's going to take more than a minor difficulty or two to stop me now. ;-)
Just stay focused... you'll get there too!
Tim
Just stay focused... you'll get there too!
Tim
Trust me Tim, I'm with you on this one! I got an 83% on my last pre-calc exam but there's no way I'm dropping the class...although maybe for a slightly different reason: I never want to see pre-calc again.