It sounds like the basic concepts behind the math were never actually explained to you (a common problem). You know how to do the functions, but the when and why just don’t click.

Actually, you sound a lot like me in high school 🙂 I found out that my teachers actually decided that I wasn’t capable of learning math, and just passed me through with lower grades because I’m a teacher’s kid. Nice.

What helped me was searching for my son’s math curriculum. He’s actually stronger in math and science than I am, so keeping him challenged (and trying to stay a step ahead of him) is…fun 🙂 I found curricula that work well for him, and are extremely concept-based, so I finally understand exactly what they’re talking about. Here are the two that work really well:

http://www.mathusee.com/sequence.html

http://www.videotext.com/homeschool.htm

These are designed to be homeschool curricula, but can be used by anyone. They’re very easy to work with and don’t take much time, but the way they explain things is incredible.

If these aren’t feasible for you, you might try seeing if the school supplies tutors, or if there is a tutoring center near you that can help. I would almost bet good money that the lack of conceptual knowledge – your teachers just plain didn’t explain the concepts behind math to you – is at the root of your problem.

Hope that helps!

I have trouble with math too. This past school year, I worked really hard at math and had my teacher tutor me. I suggest you see if the teacher can tutor you after or before school, if the teacher cannot help you or is confusing you then find a person who’s around your age that knows the math work and pay them some money for helping you. My teacher had always told me to take things at a good pace, she often told me to check my work before turning it in. She told me that in my future classes for math, when I would be assigned to do odds or evens of a math assignment then to do the full set of problems-the part I will be turning in and the other part I didn’t need to do, should be at home. This way, I’d get extra practice. She also told me to write my notes clearly. I have messing handwriting and I really had to write neatly so I wouldn’t get confused nor the person who would be grading it. My problem in math besides having a hard time understanding it, was that I would write small and sqeeze as much as I could on a sheet of paper. She encouraged me to write however big I needed to-even if my assignment was 2 or 3 pages front and back. As for the getting scared and shaking part, you might want to discuss that with your teacher and your parents. Sylvan Learning Center might be able to help you, they are trained professionals, you know. For more info check out this link: http://tutoring.sylvanlearning.com/

Don’t be afraid to ask for help or say, “I don’t understand this. Can you explain it in another way?” Don’t let yourself fail and allow those feelings to take over. Math is something that we will all need in life and it can become a challenging friend too.

Good luck!!

I was in the same situation as you with my mathematic skills letting me down. In GCSE i got D and had to retake and second attempt got a C. If I were you I’d concentrate on your creative sides. Again I am te same with my confidence, although i’m capable after time anxiety lets me down. In classes I had to just take deep breaths and tell my self I will learn with time. Talk to your teacher for extra work or maybe tutorials or even get a private tutor which was what I did in the end. At the end of the day maths probably won’t come in to what you plan to do in the future, so aim to better yourself with what you are good with.

Don’t let the anxiety get to you.

I have the same problem like you sit there and hope the teacher wont say your name but sooner or later they will.

Just do the best you can.

If you get it wrong people wont judge or make fun of you.

If your better in other classes than they’ll know its just not your strongest subject no biggie.

If arts and writing is your main subject just try to relate that to math.