Improving your math skills is the barrier between you and passing your IB math exams. In most institutions, you’ll have access to the best teachers to guide you in understanding some advanced concepts in mathematics, their relevance, and their real-world use.
But it is what you do outside the classroom and during teaching hours that makes the difference. These are some ways you can develop your mathematical knowledge, concepts, and principles before your IB exams.
Practice Problems and Go Over New Concepts
It is not advisable to jump straight into solving mathematical problems. In most cases, this approach will end in frustration and confusion. Strive to pay close attention in class and study your textbooks and other available learning resources.
You should also develop the habit of solving practice problems before tackling class assignments. This approach will allow you to absorb what you’re learning and then apply it to assignments, tests, and exams.
Go the extra mile and start solving extra problems. Join a math enrichment class. Try working out extra problems on concepts and topics you find tricky to understand. As you start solving the problems more simply, look for more complex ones to challenge your understanding. Looking for a High School math Tutor in Perth? My Academy offers tutoring for students of all ages and abilities.
Improve Procedural Fluency
The National Council of Teachers of Mathematics defines procedural fluency as the ability to apply procedures efficiently, accurately, and flexibly, transfer procedures to different contexts and problems, build and modify procedures from other procedures, and recognize when one procedure is more appropriate to apply over another.
Procedural fluency involves more than memorizing facts and procedures. It builds on the foundation of conceptual understanding. Thus, you need to understand why a particular procedure is used for specific problems instead of merely knowing the procedure.
Develop Adaptive Reasoning
Adaptive reasoning goes hand in hand with procedural fluency. It is defined as the capacity to think logically about the relationship between situations and concepts. Adaptive reasoning guides learning and allows someone to solve a mathematical problem more effectively.
With adaptive reasoning, a student can think logically about a math problem and explain and justify why and what they are doing to solve it.
Adaptive reasoning improves your problem-solving skills with written or verbal math problems. You’re able to understand the problem better and apply a fitting solution.
Incorporate Math into Your Daily Life
People use basic math daily. It helps children develop more interest in the subject and find the concepts more relatable. The effect is the same for students taking their IB course, whether AI or AA IB math.
You can do trivial things to stay in touch with how mathematics is used around you, like:
- Calculating how soon you might arrive at school when driving at a certain speed
- Calculate how much interest a credit card might accrue after a certain amount of spending
- Measure the pass rates of students in the institution doing some other course, like IB physics
These activities develop your skills and understanding of mathematical concepts and principles faster, making you a wholesome student.
Engage with a Math Tutor and Other Helpful Resources
If the teaching hours are not enough, find helpful IB mathematics resources and, optionally, a tutor who’ll help you understand mathematics better. That little extra time and effort might be all you need to improve your grades to a seven.