I’m failing Math SL, and I seemed to be doing fine before.

[raccoonbaby]

Hey guys.

It’s my first year of DP. I’ve gotten an overall score of 6 in my previous semester, and I seemed to be surviving all right. But in the past few tests I took, I got a 2 and a 3. It felt like I understood the concepts properly and I didn’t have that much of an issue answering the homework and past exam questions that my teacher prepares before tests. She also seemed concerned about my grades. I’ve spoken to her, and she said that I would just have to keep on doing more work.

There is only a few months before the end of the first year. I don’t understand why I’m struggling so much all the sudden, and dropping to studies now would require a lot of catchup (I was never a math guy; even if they’re stuff I’ve learnt before, I’ll still have troubles revising them after missing out for so long). Do any of my fellow warriors of the Depression Programme have an advice on what I should do, and perhaps a reason to why I’m doing so bad now?

Thanks.

[F***IB]

You should  switch to math studies, it’s worth it

[kw0573]

There is no overall generalization that can explain why your grades are dropping, but you have to look at specific circumstances. What are you getting wrong on the tests? How are you approaching homework and tests? Why do tests feel different from homework? Once you identify the causes of the issues then you can solve them. Talk to top-performing students from your class or from HL and see what they are doing differently. In general by each test, you should be able to solve most homework problems without looking at your notes or the solution. A lot of it could be just doing more practice to get the speed up. You should look for improvements in study habits and what used to work may be no longer sufficient. 

Edited April 16, 2018 by kw0573