in desperate need of advice

[vapegod]

hi ibsurvival I hope all is going well,

I started IB this September and things are going decently in most of my subjects. However, math is a total nightmare. I'm in math SL, and my teacher uses the Oxford textbook. We have a test after each chapter in the textbook, and I've done poorly on all of them. I've tried so much to improve and I'm out of ideas so any tips to improve would be greatly appreciated.

For reference, I got a 4 on my functions test, a 3 on my quadratics test, a 3 on my sequences and series test, and a 5 on my binomial expansion test.

I have my probability test on Monday, and I feel comfortable however I'd appreciate any tips.

Thank you.

[kw0573]

Math is one of the few IB subjects that heavily relies on previous grasps of knowledge. Before year 2, you want have a more solid grasp of the contents before IB as well as in year 1, in order to do better in year 2.

For the short-term, aim to try a variety of questions from the book, and redo the in-class questions without looking at your notes. If you know that you do not have a very solid foundation in math, then you need to spend a greater deal of time than others to become equally familiar with the topic. Familiarity is most easily done by doing lots of practice problems. I was in math HL and first time around in each homework problem set I was at about 1/4 the speed necessary to finish the final exams in time. But after more practices I was able to reach exam speed. That's a long-term goal for you; for now just make sure you can at least solve most of the problems, regardless of the resources or time you need. If on the tests you have seen a very similar problem type then your goal should be to get that problem right. 

[licia]

I have many friends that dropped down to math studies after the first year, and they're doing much better now. Thus, there's always that possibility. However, I agree with what kw0573 says and I think you simply need to practice more math. Redo all the questions you've failed after the tests and do a lot of exam questions. I used to struggle in math SL as well, but I eventually got a hang of how the IB wants me to answer questions. Hope you'll find a way to improve, good luck!