How do you get over the math hurdle?

[Anonymous]

Child is going to community college for at least a year as she did not get into the schools she wanted so we are looking at this as a "second chance". Here's the issue: she does extremely well in English (clever and instinctive writer with a couple of awards through the years), well in biology, philosophy, psychology, and got a personal recommendation from a teacher for her work with special needs kids. But in math, it is a major struggle. We are talking 20-30 percentile work. She does the homework well, gets into a test, finds it difficult and gives up and quits. We had a student tutor for four years of HS who was a big help and tried to instill confidence, but obviously it was not enough.

Now I am not looking for her to become an engineer and work for NASA, but this performance is really stopping her from moving forward. It seems like whenever she does really badly on a math test, she sets herself up for almost flunking the next one. She needs to walk in there with ice in her veins and leave no doubt.

Has anyone ever had a child who was terrible in math, a good student in other subjects, and turned it around? Really want to get her feeling she can conquer the world before school starts.

[Anonymous]

This sounds like a work ethic/tenacity/frustration issue as much as a math issue. Has she seen a counselor?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This sounds like a work ethic/tenacity/frustration issue as much as a math issue. Has she seen a counselor?

OP: I have her going to a licensed psychologist to see what exactly happens on these test.

[Anonymous]

She will be fine in CC. My DD was not a good math student. Her math SAT was 420. She went to MC and took the placement exam. She placed into remedial math which was not a surprise. She took 1 semester of remedial math (no credit) and then 1 semester of college algebra. She has now met her math requirements for her AA degree.

You DD just needs to make sure she picks a major that does not require higher level math.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She will be fine in CC. My DD was not a good math student. Her math SAT was 420. She went to MC and took the placement exam. She placed into remedial math which was not a surprise. She took 1 semester of remedial math (no credit) and then 1 semester of college algebra. She has now met her math requirements for her AA degree.

You DD just needs to make sure she picks a major that does not require higher level math.

Your daughter is mine. She placed for remedial. She looked up the teacher and all the ratings indicate the instructor is well thought of so we are hoping things click. Tough to pick a four year major because even if DD picks marketing, she still needs to do accounting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She will be fine in CC. My DD was not a good math student. Her math SAT was 420. She went to MC and took the placement exam. She placed into remedial math which was not a surprise. She took 1 semester of remedial math (no credit) and then 1 semester of college algebra. She has now met her math requirements for her AA degree.

You DD just needs to make sure she picks a major that does not require higher level math.

Your daughter is mine. She placed for remedial. She looked up the teacher and all the ratings indicate the instructor is well thought of so we are hoping things click. Tough to pick a four year major because even if DD picks marketing, she still needs to do accounting.

And probably business calc.

Does your DD know what she wants to do?

I'm a college professor and I look very favorably on students who really show they are trying. I teach finance so it's math based and many of students don't have the math skills to pass. For the student that shows up to office hours, that asks questions and brings me their work to review rather than just stating " I don't get it", that re does the problem sets and asks for additional problems to practice, I'm very generous in their grading. If you've demonstrated a basic understanding of the material in office hours and you continually bomb the problem exams, I might give you an essay based exam. Of course, in order to do that, it would mean you and I have spent a lot of time together in office hours and I'm comfortable that you understand the underlying principles and are just having a hard time executing the mechanics under pressure.

I know that a marketing student is never going to use finance and they are taking the class as a requirement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:She will be fine in CC. My DD was not a good math student. Her math SAT was 420. She went to MC and took the placement exam. She placed into remedial math which was not a surprise. She took 1 semester of remedial math (no credit) and then 1 semester of college algebra. She has now met her math requirements for her AA degree.

You DD just needs to make sure she picks a major that does not require higher level math.

OP: may I ask if she went on to a four year program?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She will be fine in CC. My DD was not a good math student. Her math SAT was 420. She went to MC and took the placement exam. She placed into remedial math which was not a surprise. She took 1 semester of remedial math (no credit) and then 1 semester of college algebra. She has now met her math requirements for her AA degree.

You DD just needs to make sure she picks a major that does not require higher level math.

OP: may I ask if she went on to a four year program?

Yes, she's currently at Salisbury. She transferred after 1 year at MC. She doesn't have her major picked though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She will be fine in CC. My DD was not a good math student. Her math SAT was 420. She went to MC and took the placement exam. She placed into remedial math which was not a surprise. She took 1 semester of remedial math (no credit) and then 1 semester of college algebra. She has now met her math requirements for her AA degree.

You DD just needs to make sure she picks a major that does not require higher level math.

OP: may I ask if she went on to a four year program?

Yes, she's currently at Salisbury. She transferred after 1 year at MC. She doesn't have her major picked though.

OP: what do you attribute the math turnaround to? How is she doing at Salisbury? I need a success story!

[Anonymous]

Are you sure she doesn't have inattentive ADHD or a learning disability?
That type of profile with strong language skills and math weakness screams gifted and learning disabled, and is often typical of inattentive ADHD.

Math requires enough working memory to hold temporarily in your mind multiple numbers and ideas, juggle them during a multi-step process, and have enough attention to not make silly mistakes. My son cannot do this if he's not medicated for his ADHD.

You might want to have your daughter evaluated by a psychologist or psychiatrist and see if there's anything holding her back.
She sounds as if she's missed out on some serious math background, and will need to catch up on mathematical reasoning to get past this hurdle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are you sure she doesn't have inattentive ADHD or a learning disability?
That type of profile with strong language skills and math weakness screams gifted and learning disabled, and is often typical of inattentive ADHD.

Math requires enough working memory to hold temporarily in your mind multiple numbers and ideas, juggle them during a multi-step process, and have enough attention to not make silly mistakes. My son cannot do this if he's not medicated for his ADHD.

You might want to have your daughter evaluated by a psychologist or psychiatrist and see if there's anything holding her back.
She sounds as if she's missed out on some serious math background, and will need to catch up on mathematical reasoning to get past this hurdle.

OP: I am having her evaluated and appreciate how you detail the issue. Yes, she needs to catch up but its not hopeless if she has the right diagnosis and support. The good thing about the CC she will be attending is that they are very interested in helping kids succeed and offer tutoring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:She will be fine in CC. My DD was not a good math student. Her math SAT was 420. She went to MC and took the placement exam. She placed into remedial math which was not a surprise. She took 1 semester of remedial math (no credit) and then 1 semester of college algebra. She has now met her math requirements for her AA degree.

You DD just needs to make sure she picks a major that does not require higher level math.

OP: may I ask if she went on to a four year program?

Yes, she's currently at Salisbury. She transferred after 1 year at MC. She doesn't have her major picked though.

OP: what do you attribute the math turnaround to? How is she doing at Salisbury? I need a success story!

I wouldn't say it's a turnaround. I would say she picked a math requirement that based in the remedial work she did, she could easily complete. When she got to Salisbury, she enrolled in Calc 1. I asked her if she was sure and she said yes so I let it go. After the mid term she dropped the class. She had a solid F and there was no way it was even going to become a D.

The MC remedial class was adaptive--it was computer based with a once a week lecture/check in with the professor. She could go at her own pace and redo what she needed to work on. By the time she got to the college algebra class, she had seen and mastered most of the concepts already.

[Anonymous]

My son is good at math but needs to work on accuracy. He's got the steps nailed though and understands the concepts.

I get aggravated with him sometimes because I see how easy this comes for him....and if it's just a matter of checking and showing your work - grrrr. Just DO it.

Part of the reason for my aggravation with him is because I totally understand what it's like to really struggle with math. I know what it's like to have a very tenuous grasp of a concept only to lose that grasp during a test. It is so easy to confuse yourself trying to understand it.

Your daughter needs a firmer base. Go back to step 1 and start rebuilding. She'll get it.

[Anonymous]

If she has to take a placement test, tell her to purposely not do very well (do well enough to pass) so she can take a very basic math. Lots of us did that in college who were not majoring in anything math related.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If she has to take a placement test, tell her to purposely not do very well (do well enough to pass) so she can take a very basic math. Lots of us did that in college who were not majoring in anything math related.

If your major doesn't require a business/science track then you are don't have to take the harder math courses. There are people who do well in math but prefer less math heavy majors.

I don't see the benefit in purposely not doing well on a placement test. The better you do the more options that you have, right?