Mathtopian Preparation

5-29-09
Secrets My English Teacher Never Told Me

Secret Number 4
No matter how smart you are, no matter how well you understand the material in class, you have to study. And the big secret is… (wait for it…) doing homework is not the same as studying. That’s right, the daily homework, well, hopefully you’re doing homework on a daily basis is not the same as studying. When you do homework, your focus in the completion of a specific assignment for class material usually covered that same day. When you study, you’re reviewing an array of class material, synthesizing that material with information from your textbook and your class notes, and compiling all of it into your brain in preparation for an exam. And with final exams upcoming, the difference is important. But worry not; I have some specific tips and procedures to help you prepare for exams. Use this information now and keep in mind for future reference.

Studying for Mathematics
Regardless of the level of math you currently take, this is one class for which there is a significant difference between doing homework and studying. Let’s talk about the homework first:

Rule number one: Do you homework the same night it is assigned.
The information is fresh in your head; your notes (hopefully) still make sense. You’ll be better prepared for the next class, and you’ll be able to ask questions about concepts and skills that remain unclear.

Rule number two: Your highlighter is your friend.
When you do homework, highlight problems you don’t understand AND those you answer incorrectly. You know those times when you’re in class, and you know you had a question, but you can’t find the problem you wanted to ask about? Well, tada! You can already see the brilliance of the highlighter-while-doing-homework method. Now that you can easily find the problems you for which you need teacher help, ask those questions.

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Rule number three: ASK QUESTIONS!
One of the most important things you can do to get better grades is to ask questions. It’s one of your primary duties as a student to ask relevant questions; it’s the teacher’s job to answer the question – something he/she cannot do if you’ve not first asked. I read somewhere that “he who asks a question is a fool for five minutes; he (or she as the case may be) who does not ask is a fool forever. I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather have the five minutes than forever.

Rule number four: Practice makes perfect
This is really a song you should sing to yourself everyday that you don’t want to study. “Practice makes perfect; practice makes perfect; the more that you practice the better you’ll be!” This is a key point – when you practice often, you “get good. “ Practice allows you to acquire the necessary skills to complete any task well. Remember the ask question rule, well, the practice makes perfect rule requires you to use rule three. When a test is coming, complete the study guide provided by your teacher. If your teacher does not provide a study guide – ASK FOR ONE! Yes, I completely understand that asking for more homework may well get you booted from the Cool Teens of America Club, but a real student has to take risks. If you absolutely can’t ask, or, heaven forbid, your teacher does not provide a study guide, take it upon yourself to complete the chapter review questions for which you have the answers. In most textbooks, that would be the odd-numbered questions. Make sure you do these in advance of the exam, so you have the opportunity to apply rule three BEFORE the exam. While you’re practicing, review and re-do the homework, especially questions your answered incorrectly. Teachers will often choose just these problems for the exam – you’ll be ready!

Rule number five: Memorize formulas and procedures
Students often explain to me that memorizing class material is difficult, impossible, “I can’t remember stuff like that,” and myriad other excuses. Now you can remember your favorite song, information about your favorite celebrity, statistics about your favorite sports teams – trust me, you can memorize math formulae too. Make index cards. Find or create a mnemonic (a little phrase or initial of each word).

Rule number last – for the moment anyway… The difference between long and short-term memory is important. You know how sometimes, you “study” the night before (or the class before) an exam, but about half-way or less through the test, you can’t remember that one bit for information – it’s on the tip of your tongue – but you just can’t reach it. That’s because last minute study puts information into your short-term memory. But, worry not, it’s really simple to move information from the short-term to the long-term memory: study over a period of time, not just the night before. Sound too good to be true – it’s not.

Let’s say you have a final exam the last week of the semester – oh wait – you do! That makes this much easier. If you had read this blog months ago, I’m sure you’d be ready for exams – but since I didn’t write it yet, we’ll work with from now until next week and you’ll be prepared for future exams. I know your notebook is in order and you can find all of your notes and materials – we’ve already discussed the organization is the key to getting A’s. Each evening when you come home, spend 20 – 30 minutes studying for each class. Do this every day Sunday through Saturday if possible. Follow the steps I’ve detailed. A word of warning – do not stay up until 3am or some other ridiculous hour studying the night before an exam. The information will be in your short-term memory and that will do little good. The goal is to put the information you need in your long-term memory, so it’s easily accessible at a moment’s notice and while you’re under the stress of exams.

This is a long entry about studying for math, yet I know you have other classes. Math is specifically detailed because students more frequently have problems with math than other classes. Additionally, the techniques you use for preparing for math exams are applicable to your other classes.

Studying for Science
Remember rule number five? Memorizing formulae is the first step. Once you have committed the formula to memory, understand why they exist – know and understand what, exactly, the formula does. When you can do this, you can apply to other problems.

Apply rules number three and four next – ask questions, complete the study guide, and complete the chapter review. Re-read your notes and add information from your text within the notes to have a more complete picture. Make sure you understand how previous chapters apply to what you’re currently studying. In science, as in other academic disciplines, skills and concepts build. Today you may be doing calculus, but it started with addition and subtraction – the same is applicable to all of your classes.

Finally rule number last – start early and study often to make sure information is in your long-term memory. Get a good night’s sleep before the exam.

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Posted by Angela Cobb at 7:15 am.

5-22-09
Van Gogh and Math?

Van Gogh is the artist whose work most moves me. When I visited the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam last year, I was almost brought to tears by the collection of his work and the tragic story of his life. I have been thinking about him a lot lately and really wanted to write about him this week. Can I really justify writing about a mentally disturbed artist in our education blog? I started researching the topic “Van Gogh and Math” and found some very interesting articles.

An article that ran in New Scientist Magazine in July of 2006 reported that two physicists at the University of Mexico analyzed some of Van Gogh’s most famous paintings and discovered that, “the images reflect light in a way that mimics the physics of turbulence.” More specifically, Van Gogh’s brush strokes form eddies that display the Kolmogorov mathematical model of fluid turbulence. Kolmorgorov, by the way, did most of his work on turbulence models in the 1940’s long after Van Gogh’s suicide.

How in the world did this crazy man know anything about statistics or physics?? Well, Van Gogh was influenced by the French Impressionism movement that became popular at the same time he arrived in Paris. Impressionism is sometimes called optical realism because of its almost scientific interest in the effect of light and movement on the appearance of objects.

Van Gogh is well known to have suffered from seizures due to epilepsy and probably some form of bipolar disorder. There is so much that is unknown about how the brain works – could it be that Van Gogh was able to access information and/or insight that others of us cannot? Psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison says that she and others have long suspected that “genius and insanity are linked. “ They further speculate that mood disorders allow people to think more creatively and to experience a broad range of very intense emotions.

Posted by Marlisa Johnson at 8:53 am.

5-8-09
When to Begin SAT Prep??

As many of your know, Mathtopian Preparation is offering a massive SAT Prep program this summer. Two-week sessions of intensive study are now available to students entering 10th, 11th and 12th grades. Our outreach to students and parents has prompted lots of questions about the right time for students to begin their preparation. Although there is no single correct answer, I have an opinion on the subject.

In October of their 10th grade year, students will take their first official admissions test in the form of the PSAT (Preliminary SAT). This is actually the PPSAT because the 10th grade administration of the exam is not reported on students’ official score reports. However, it does allow students to experience the conditions of the exam and also gives them their first taste of the types of questions asked. Then in October of their 11th grade year, they take the real PSAT. This administration of the PSAT serves several purposes:

Students and parents can use the scores to determine the amount of preparation needed for the SAT.
Schools can use the scores to assist with placement in honors and AP courses
Colleges that receive students’ scores can start to reach out to students who interest them.
Students can begin to compare themselves to their peers and get a realistic idea of where they are ranked in their class.

The 11th grade year is full of testing. There’s the PSAT in October, then the SAT in March (if they are ready), then AP exams in May, then the SAT Subject tests in June (if they haven’t already taken them in May).

And if the SAT or SAT Subject tests don’t go well, then they have to try again in October of their senior year.

So when to start prepping? As early as possible! As you can imagine, the junior year is so full of testing and challenging courses, that there really is no time for students to study for the tests. At the very least, I recommend that they take a serious prep course the summer BEFORE their junior year. If I had my way, students would begin even earlier – the summer before their SOPHOMORE year. Then they would be prepared for that first exam, the PPSAT and would be very aware of their performance and the work ahead of them. Consequently the following summer before their junior year they will be old pros and mentally ready for their second prep course.

Now for the shameless plug…Check out our SAT prep program occurring this summer by clicking on the “Summer SAT” link at the bottom of this page. Any student who will be entering grade 10, 11 or 12th in the fall of 2009 can register.

Posted by Marlisa Johnson at 8:15 am.