Hello darkness, my old friend
By EG Manilag, Staff Writer
The quarantined semester has officially commenced! Most students at this very moment are just chilling in their homes or now arranging their schedulesâbut not me. I am deeply worried about taking my first ever math related course in college. Even though I am not that bad at math, I still get nervous because it tenses me upâeating up my entire day and causing me to be full of worries and fears.
One of my greatest fears in taking math is the possibility of failing. No one wants to fail, especially if they give their all. Math and statistics are known to be cumulative in nature. This means that these classes require fundamental knowledge before getting to the next course. For example, knowing basic mathematical operations and their order (PEMDAS also known as BEDMAS) is especially important and required to proceed to upper level mathematics. You simply wonât be able to solve functions if you donât know their step-by-step process.
Another thing that makes math and stats hard are their symbolsâthey can come in many different forms but have only one meaning. This can really make you feel like a foreigner in unknown place. Now, keeping this in mind, it is especially hard for students who have been molded by the social sciences to get back on track. Not practicing calculations for a while can definitely rust your math skills. As a result, these students are burdened to go back and study the every single prerequisite since they are all necessary. Nevertheless, theyâll spend more time on their numbers course than their non-math courses if theyâre out of practice.
The other thing that is not so great about this situation is the common trend that occurs where one cannot greatly focus on other courses. As for me, I am a criminology student. I really love studying criminology courses. In fact, I am taking two this semester. But having a third course related to math means I canât enjoy studying the other two as much, seeing how I must study hard at math to get a fighting chance at succeeding.
Re-entering
the field of math, for me and many others, is simply hard. But hey, the
beginning is always the hardest. If we keep a good pace and follow our profsâ
instructions while also studying regularly, I am sure weâll end up just fine.
For
all of you having this same anxiety as myself, perhaps a takeaway story from the
Life and Style Editor, Morgan Hannah, will help you conquer your math or stat
anxiety. She had the same worry as a writer and someone distant from mathematics.
On the time, she states âI ended up doing quite well, though. I owe my success
to asking tons of questions, working through my lab multiple times, and paying
close attention during lectures. Additionally, when we had projects, such as
our stats journal, I went all out and did a creative scrapbook styled journalâI
highly recommend using oneâs talents and skills to their advantage. Like, if
youâre a great writer and have to write out math questions, write really interesting
ones.â
