Top 10 Study Tips For Teens To Get Better Grades In High School Math

If you are a parent looking for ideas about how to help your child do well in his or her math class,  or if you are a student looking for tips on how to improve your math grade, you may find these suggestions helpful.

Here are 10 tips that will help you improve your test-taking skills and get better grades in math.

1. Don’t just aim for for a B or C. Ask the teacher what it will take to get an A, then strive to achieve that.

2. When doing your math homework, don’t be messy. Practice writing neatly. It will actually make a difference in how you think about the problems.

3. Don’t work problems just to get an answer. Your teacher will be looking to see how well you understood the problem by the intermediate steps you took to arrive at the answer. Be sure to show all your work.

4. It is important that you study the material in your math text book. Be sure to invest some time reading the chapter sections and working the examples that are related to your homework problems. It will help you remember how to solve the problems on the test as well.

5. Be sure to take notes during class. Write these as neatly as you can. When you get home, study your notes and write down questions you want to ask the teacher or a study partner.

6. If you don’t understand something in the homework, write it down in a special area of your notebook and ask your teacher the next day.

7. Look for summaries and reviews in the beginning, middle, and end of the chapters in your text. Also, Look for bold face and italic text. These fonts signify important points to remember.

8. Study extra problems before the test. If you were assigned only even numbers on the homework, for example, work some of the odd numbered problems also.

9. Keep up with your assignments and notes on a daily basis. It’s much more difficult to play catch up than it is to keep up.

10. Pay attention to how you feel about math. Notice whether you have a positive attitude or not. If you find yourself thinking, “I’m no good in math,” or, “It’s too much work,” say to yourself instead, out loud if you must, “Math may not come as easily for me as it seems to for others, but I know I can do this! I’m willing to do to what it takes to get good grades.”

11. (Bonus!)  Many of you (students) don’t do this, but you should. Find at least one other student in the class with whom you can exchange phone numbers. If you forget or lose an assignment, or miss a day in class, this will allow you to call someone to find out what you missed.

Feel free to call me directly, using the phone number at the top of the page in the header graphic, or leave me your name and phone number in the form at the top of the page if you’d like to learn more about my tutoring services in the San Francisco Bay Area.