Studying maths at KS2, GCSEs, 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 online math 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 better at maths!
Find a mental mathematics class here.
How to Improve your Mental Arithmetic
While it's really important to study Pythagorean theorem, Thales’ theorem, or 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!
So what is mental arithmetic, or mental math, anyway?
As the phrase suggests, mental math is all about doing math in your mind. This means not having reference to a smart phone, or a pen and paper to work through a problem. People that have strong mental math skills use their intuition, estimation, and core knowledge of number facts to solve problems with as much accuracy as possible.
Mental math development ideally starts when you are a child. Your teacher should instruct you in estimation skills, and help you to build a solid foundation of number facts. Kids with good mental math can look at sets of numbers and perform algorithms without any pen and paper. Ever see a challenge where you "guess" the amount of candies in a large jar? The winners in those contests likely have good mental math skills, and can estimate with ease.
Adults with great mental math skills can make informed financial decisions or become skillful and crafty gamers. They can quickly assess any situation that involves spatial sense, such as building or designing a room. Strong mental math skills means you can determine risk quickly, and make quick mental calculations.
Of course, even if your mental math skills simply empower you to figure out an appropriate tip or what your grocery bill may look like, you have made good use of your learning!
Check out math tutoring here on superprof
How does Mental Arithmetic Help Me in School?
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!
Indeed, many modern math curricula have emphasized the importance of developing mental math skills. Children are encouraged to develop automaticity when simply looking at math facts. A basic skill for students in grades 1-3 is to look at a dots on a page and know the amount with out counting each one individually. This is critical as you do not want to be labouring over simple math facts when trying to solve complex equations.
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!
How Will an Online Tutor Help Me to Develop Mental Math?
Online or in person tutors are an excellent resource to tap into if you need to improve your mental math in school. This is particularly important for kids that are struggling in intermediate or senior level math. Often a strong number foundation needs to be rebuilt or strengthened so higher order problems can be solved in school.
An online math tutor will help you develop math skills. 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.
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.
Regular academic support from tutoring is perfect for those that simply want to stay on top of their course work. A tutor can work with a student to review the lessons of that week, and revisit concepts that the student may not be clear on. Even if the student is not struggling, a tutor can provide additional practice exercises and start introducing concepts that will be studied later in the term. Or perhaps, a tutor may be focused on helping a student to keep up with homework and assignments.
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.
These strategies are the perfect starting point for developing better study habits in math class. When you are organized, have a strong peer group to study with, and have established routines for learning, it becomes much easier to feel confident and successful in school.
How Can I Keep Better Track of My Child's Math Learning Expectations?
Parents out there know that being a parent is tough. You are not only dealing with the changes that come with growing children, but supporting them in their school success. It is really critical for families to be partners in their child's learning. This is no easy feat, especially when time and resources are scarce.
If you are a student and you are reading this article, you can do yourself a huge favour by keeping your parents aware of the challenges you are facing in school. While it may seem tempting to keep them out of your school life, if you are struggling in class they can be your most important ally.
To get a big-picture perspective of the learning expectations of math, be sure to look up your provincial mathematics curriculum. They are likely posted on government websites. Knowing what your child will have to learn in school will help you to relate more to the work they bring home, and be better positioned to ask questions of their educators.
And if you are finding that curriculum research is not very useful or that you don't have any time, simply take a peek into your child's math binder, notebook, or virtual classroom. Are there organized notes? Have they submitted all of their work? What do you see that might raise alarm, or affirmation that your child is succeeding?
You can find some of the basics of what you or your child should learn in school in the next section.
10 Maths Skills they Should Teach You or Your Child at School
Can you recite the digits of Pi after 3.14?
OK, so knowing all of the numbers in Pi won't make you a top math student, but understanding Pi or simply the concept of place value can take you a long way in your math learning.
There are basics of mathematics understanding that you or your child will want to take well into adulthood. You may struggle to graph a quadratic equation, but having the following skills listed below will take you a long way.
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
Find out if school Maths brings financial literacy.
Is Financial Literacy Important?
Finally, even if you really are math averse and want to avoid it as much as possible, you will not want to ignore financial literacy. Financial literacy is all about being able to manage your money, income, debt, and plan a budget. This is basic to ensuring that you make good decisions with your wealth, and at the very least keep a roof over your head.
Financial literacy is so important that many new provincial and state curricula across North America have it listed explicitly in their curriculum documents. Being financially literate is part of being a good citizen and a productive member of society. It is all about understanding how to create a balanced budget, and what you should prioritize when it comes to spending or saving money.
Understanding money is critical, especially in an age where cash has largely been replaced by cards and unfortunately, growing consumer debt. And yes, if understanding money is not your strong suit, you can certainly get a tutor to help you develop basic financial literacy skills!
Find the right tutor for you or your child on Superprof!
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