How do you overcome math anxiety? What exactly is math anxiety and is it real? Believe it or not, math anxiety is very real, and many people tend to suffer from some sort of math anxiety. It might seem weird to be afraid of a subject, but it can happen to you easier than you might think. There is so much to memorize in math, and sometimes you just tend to blank.
It has been said that math anxiety is similar to stage fright, or similar to any other time when you have to cram for a test. There is so much to memorize when it comes to math, and forgetting even a little bit of that can really be a problem for some people. There are so many terms in math that you can start to lose track of what you are looking at.
There are reciprocals, integers, tangent, cosign, and Pythagoras running through my mind at this very moment. I would have to spend about twenty minutes at dictionary.com trying to find the definitions of all those terms. What exactly is the hypotenuse? Is that the sum of your right angles, or is that some 3rd century B.C Greek philosopher who first coined the term math anxiety?
The first thing you are going to want to do is just relax. Realize that most of the stuff you learn in math you are never going to use more than once, maybe twice, after you graduate. I have never had to use the Pythagorean Theorem, or figure out how long a shadow a 10 foot pole would cast on a sunny day. So if you don’t do well on the test, I have to think you will survive.
Find your preferred method of studying. If you have trouble with rote memorization, you should just go ahead and try a new method. Get into a class where the pace is slower so that you can learn. Get extra help from a tutor who can develop study habits that you can live with. Some people simply aren’t good at math. It isn’t the end of the world, the worst thing you can do is panic.
Math anxiety can strike at any time, but don’t let it totally mess you up. Just calm down, concentrate on what you can do, and just go with what you can remember. If you just relax you will do a lot better, and if you don’t do so well, just make sure you are up to speed on your history and English.
