Math Tips 3:

The Math Tips Strike Back!

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Your textbook is your best friend

If all of our students had a good relationship with their textbook, MathBusters might be almost out of business.

Okay, we’re pretty awesome so we’d probably do just fine. But you will save a lot of money on tutoring if you learn to use your textbook.

Your textbook has all the definitions and theorems clearly marked. When you’re studying for a test, go through the chapters that are covered on the test and write down all the definitions. Write down any theorems that you can’t derive easily from the definitions and axioms.

Your textbook has an index. Can’t remember what a math word means? Look it up in the index.

Chances are, your textbook (or notes that your instructor has given you or put on their website) already contains everything you need to know for your class. Did you miss a day of class? Most likely whatever you missed, it’s in your textbook. Did you not understand something the instructor said in class? 8 times out of 10, your textbook has a clearer explanation, one that you can read again and again until it makes sense.

An excellent study habit is to find out on which days your instructor is covering which chapters in your textbook, and then read that chapter the day before your class. Make notes of what you had trouble understanding. Wait for your teacher to get to that point in the lesson. See if their explanation clears things up. If not, raise your hand and ask them to explain more. Because you’ve already seen this in the book and had a chance to think about what it was that was confusing you, your question will be clearer and the teacher or professor will be better able to answer you so that you understand.