i actually like math, enjoy figuring things out, instead of just sensing...but only when it is clear HOW i can figure it out, otherwise, i just know the answer or i dont.
studying for the GRE's, i realize it depends less on what you know how to do, and more on knowing when they are trying to trick you by drawing pictures off scale and then you have to redraw. this requires me to read the directions and be less careless, more patient...but atleast im consistant in where i have difficulty i guess.
hess has been tutoring me, and he sees my frustration and says "molly, this should be alot easier then your job, i mean come on, math ALWAYS follows a set of rules, people are entirely off the charts" and i said "but all their rules are right there for you to see! thats easy. theres nothing to memorize, only to be open to learning about it."
i was in AP math classes up until the first year of high school where i encountered geometry and the dreaded proofs. the thing about geometry, you can have the right answer (which i did about 9 out of 10 times) and still fail the problem if you cant PROVE how you came to your conclusions as the proof is worth a full 50% of the score, and apparently, my path to the answer was never the correct way to get there, so i averaged a 50%, which is an F.
first i asked to be dropped down in math, but the guidance counselors said to stick it out, id get the hang of it. so i got a private tutor, abby, a JCU student who i really didnt like much,and we would meet maybe two or three times a week (my mom can correct me here if she wants to)but it was pointless. i failed the course and still had to take geometry the next year, where i got, holy cow, a D...but atleast i passed the second time through.
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5 comments:
It was really hard to see a person who had a natural aptitude in math get so discouraged and end up hating math because of the "rules". Those of us who manuver our way through life by what we feel and what we "know" have a lot of problems with those darn proofs! Too bad your Mom couldn't do the proofs either :-).
so how many times a week did i meet with abby, do you remember?
So Pesha is your mom? That's very interesting (unless I got it wrong). Dave always had that problem in school too. He got great grades on his tests, but failed because he didn't do any of the work. (R)
yup, pesha is her hebrew name, and i can totally see dave being that type of student...maybe its a red head thing. as dave and i both know, all us red heads are made up of "sugar and lust"... oh, and were aliens too i believe if tom robbins has it right
You're asking me if I remember? Seriously? Do you know me?
Oh, and yah, I'm the Mom :-)
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