Three Grade-Altering Things That Coach Irfan Did to Secure Consistent Maths Distinctions that Any Student Can Use
From bottom five⬇️ and a fail in Maths to First in class ☑️and Maintaining A1’s & Distinctions in Mathematics…
Goal Setting with Goals Checkpoints Checklist
Having a goal is great but it isn’t sufficient. Back then I knew I had to achieve good grades in Maths in order to secure my dream schools and courses. But having an end goal is insufficient and may be too overwhelming for the current state of things. As such, I set mini goals or what I now call, Goals Checkpoints. An example of a goal checkpoint that I had was to first achieve mastery in a topic and review my performance for a class test first. Once I got better at the class tests, the next goal checkpoint was the semester exams and then the final exams and then the final exams.
Seek to achieve step wise improvement in class tests and then a leap-wise improvement for the semester exams. What I found was that achieving well for class tests boosts my confidence which helped in the bigger exams.
Immediate clearing of doubts
Doubts are like holes on a water bucket. Having an uncertainty in Maths is uncomfortable and back then most students, including myself, had little extra help. When I was failing, I had loads of uncleared doubts. For an example, when I had a doubt about prime numbers, I would just shelve it away until the exams and then scramble to clear these unclear concepts.
In Maths, many topics are inter-linked and it is always best to clear your gaps in understanding as soon as you have them. With the advent of the information age, we can retrieve help in Mathematics topics in a matter of minutes. Look and seek hard enough, and you will find your answers.
Just like water in a bucket ridden with holes, having doubts will limit your Mathematics achievements.
As a student, I had lots of school commitments, from regular school schedule to CCAs to supplementary lessons. When I had a poor mindset, squeezing out play time was something that was on my mind.
It is not until I began to change my habits and mindset that squeezing out self-enrichment, independent learning time instead and work towards my goals became a priority.Time is limited and had to be used wisely. I thought to myself, the RI student also gets the same amount of time. They even have more subjects than most and yet they are able to perform well. Are they so much smarter than me or the average student? How could that be. Time or usage of time is the determining factor. Plan your daily activities day by day and act on these plans. Avoid digressing as diverting too much will cause a lost of momentum and then you would have to play a catch up game to get your momentum up to speed.
In retrospect, these were some of the most important things that helped leapfrog my Maths grades from FAIL and a poor class standing to first in class and A1’s.
I’m sure if you remove your bad habits and follow proven to work ways, you will also achieve for Maths and ultimately your dream school and courses.
All the best !
Irfan
