HOW TO SUCCEED IN A-MATH AND GET AN A!

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Does my child have what it takes to succeed in A-Math?

The answer is absolutely a resounding YES!
Each and every child has the potential to succeed in A-Math.

For the seemingly accursed A-Math student who feels down and out, we feel you.
The good news however, is that like many other students before you, you can actually change your A-Math grades for the better.

The path to A-Math Mastery can be broken down to 7 number of steps below. Follow them closely.

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1. Acknowledge your developed biases towards A-Math

Identify and acknowledge the biased perceptions you currently have developed towards A-math that then affects the way you treat and perceive the subject.

This can be in the form of

“I’m just not a Math kind of person”

“E-Math is easy but when it comes to A-Math, wah, very scary…”

“I’m more an Arts sort of person. I could never understand this. Hopefully, just pass good enough already.”

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2. Give Yourself Another Chance

Understand that the above are but self-fulfilling prophecies based on faulty conclusions about your capabilities in the past. Sure, you may have flunk a paper or two previously, but that is in no way a good measure of the potential in you.

It is thus important to give yourself another chance to succeed and start anew. Without giving yourself another chance to succeed, you will never allow yourself to dedicate time and effort towards improving in A-Math.

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3. Reinforce Positivity
Practice reinforcing the firm belief that you can succeed in A-Math just like anyone else.

Every time you find yourself stumbling upon a setback, tell yourself that you can overcome that hurdle. Seek help and guidance from friends, teachers and tutors if need be.

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4. Time To … Peel An Onion?

Think of mastery as akin to peeling an onion as you are trying to get to the core.

You first start off with the outside layers of the onion aka the fundamentals. Slowly but surely, and sometimes tearfully too, you arrive at the part that you want.

The deeper in you go, the tougher it may get as you attempt tougher questions.

The fundamentals are the cardinal rules of every topic, without which, you may never get a full understanding of the topic. In fact, at the start of every topic, there should be a list of course outcomes, be it in a textbook or assessment book that tells you what you need to be able to accomplish.

Get to know this, understand the fundamentals, look through examples.

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5. Practice the basic questions.

Many students may not have the patience to go through the basics, thinking they are too easy. It helps that many assessment books and practice sets come with a segregation of the questions into basic, intermediate and challenging. Attempt the basic questions. Refer to solutions if you need help. Try them again this time without looking at the solution. Try them another time with a time allocation.

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6. Attach the Intermediate questions
Proceed to the intermediate questions. If you still feel a lack of confidence, feel free to look through some the worked solutions to some of the questions.

Thereafter, attempt them without looking at the solutions.

Repeat the questions for as many times it takes you to feel confident that you are able to do the intermediate questions without looking at the solutions.

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7. Don’t forget to PLAN!

Now having said all of these, It’s important to keep in mind that the a core tenet of any mastery is still missing. Mastery doesn’t happen by chance. As they say, failing to plan is akin to planning to fail.

So before anything, you need a plan. And at the start of this plan, is your goal.
Write this down where you can see it everyday. Paste it up on the wall.
I want to achieve ___ by _______ for my A-Math.

Having done that, the next thing you need to do is to decide how.

Allocate time every week to sit down and focus on just A-math. Allocate time to see your teachers or tuition time for this.

Set milestones along the way and checkpoints in your plan. This would be times where you evaluate if you are on course towards achieving your goal. Should you allocate more time? Remain the same? Do you still need more help and guidance?

Typically, students aim to finish their A-Math syllabus by June of the year that they sit for their N or O-levels.

This allows them ample time to practice ten year series papers.

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Hope these tips help and all the best to you doing well in your A-Math.

Remember, you can succeed too.

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