Love it or hate it, maths tests are the ones we can’t avoid. Everyone’s got to do one at some point so here are a few tips to help you out with revision.
1. Practice
The best way to ensure you understand something in maths is to practice.
Once you think you understand how to do something, e.g. simultaneous equations, put your notes away and hide any examples you have. Then get a set of questions and answer them in your own ‘test conditions.’ If you can do them without having to open your textbook, or check your notes, you’ll know you can do it. If not, look through some more examples or ask someone for help then have another go. Keep trying until you can answer questions with no help at all.
For me the best way to practice is by using past papers. They give you questions at exactly the right level and give you a good idea of what to expect in the exam. Practicing will also give you a good idea of the things you are struggling with and should spend more time focusing on.
IMPORTANT Check your answers. This may seem really obvious, but I’ve had friends who spend hours practising questions and then don’t check a single one. If you don’t check your answers you are wasting your time, you won’t know if you’re right or wrong and you won’t know what to work on. Sometimes mark schemes can be tricky to understand, so if you’re struggling ask a teacher to go through your answers with you.
2. Remembering Important Information
The main things you need to commit to memory for a maths test are equations, theorems and proofs. There are lots and lots of techniques that people use to remember important information, but here’s one method I use to remember equations:
- Write all the equations out in a list, along with the names of the equations
- On a separate piece of paper just write out the names of the equations, leaving a space for the equations
- Cover the first list with all of the equations on
- On the second list try to fill out all of the equations from memory
- Once you’ve filled out the second list check it against the first
- Repeat this process until you can correctly remember all of the equations
The same can be done with theorems and proofs too; write the names of the theorems/proofs and try and write them down from memory, repeating until you know them as well as you know how to spell your name!
IMPORTANT This is just to help you remember the equations/theorems/proofs. You also need to make sure you understand the information. If there are any equations you don’t know how to use, proofs or theorems that are confusing you then go back to the textbook, revision guide or teacher for help.
In terms of equations you should practice using them. It’ll test your understanding, and for me the more I actually use an equation the easier I find it to remember it.
3. Don’t Waste Time
Depending on the exam you may be given certain information. Constants for example. There’s no point wasting your time trying to remember pi to 5 decimal places if you’ll be given it in the exam. There could also be certain equations provided, although you need to know how to use them, there may be no need to commit them to memory. Your time is valuable and you don’t want to waste it, so check exactly what you’ll be given in the exam.
4. Look at Examples
If you are struggling to understand something look for an example, a worked example that explains what is happening step by step. They’re great for helping you get your head round something. I’m hoping to get lots of worked examples up in the maths section soon but there are plenty of other places to find them right now. If your text book/revision guide doesn’t have one, have a look on the internet. Most of the maths you’ll be learning at school/college is pretty common, and there are lots of examples out there. There are also some pretty great videos on YouTube that go through problems step by step.
5. Ask for Help
This is one of the most important pieces of advice. Never be afraid to ask for help. I think asking for help has appeared in almost every post I’ve written so far but it is one of the best things you can do when you are struggling. If you are finding something really difficult asking a teacher for help could make the difference between you getting a question in an exam wrong or right.
6. Keep Going
Even if you practiced questions, remembered all the equations and think there’s no more you can do, keep going. Find more questions to practice with. There could always be a question that trips you up or confuses you. The more you revise, the less likely it is that this will happen.
With that being said, remember to take breaks and stay calm. At the end of the day an exam is an exam and you shouldn’t let yourself get too stressed. All you can do is try your best!
For some more general advice on preparing for an exam click here. Leave a comment below for maths topics you’d like me to write explanations/give examples of how to do. You can even leave your own revision tips to help others!
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