Maths Revision

Maths, as an academic subject, is very difficult to learn, if you don't practise doing the sums.  That might sound like an obvious statement; but I know several people who have tried maths modules in the past, and failed them.  Not because they weren't bright enough, but because they read the maths, understood it, but then didn't apply what they had learnt, straight away. 

I have personally found that I can read a text and fully understand the beautiful concepts and elegant methods involved.  I then go to bed, sleep, get up, have my morning coffee, take the kids to school etc... To then find, that my recollection of the material, is not just rusty, but actually non-existent.

This did initially come as a bit of a shock to me, as I have studied with the Open University, before.  I did some art-history and French modules, a few years ago, and found that I could just read the texts, write a few essays, cram like crazy and pass with a good grade.

However, I have discovered that Maths is totally different.  It is both accumulative and technique based.  You need to learn and remember each and every concept, theorem or technique; as most of the more advanced maths work, is based on these earlier, elementary steps.

About 5yrs ago, as a confidence booster, I took part in the Kumon Maths programme.  It involves doing up to 236 basic maths sums, per day, 365 days a year.  Each worksheet is just a little bit more advanced, than the previous one.  And, although it is rather repetitive; it does make those skills and techniques stick.

My next post, gives some detail of the techniques I use, to study and learn, (really learn), University maths and other important bits of information.