Dealing with Math Anxiety

Antara Titikhsha Barua

It is 2.30 a.m. now. You are looking at your khata (notebook) blankly, rubbing your bleary eyes, and trying your utmost to keep awake. You continuously take sips from your favorite coffee mug, and try to avoid the void stares of your roommate who invited you to join her for a movie an hour ago. Now you are thinking that watching a movie would have been better than cramming these boring mathematical concepts.

Yes girl, you are panicking too much for your math quiz. At AUW, most of the students panic right before these quizzes. Most of the time, they are found at Tale Space or on the lane browsing their phones without worrying about their quizzes. But all that changes when they check their inbox and read the professor’s email announcing a quiz the next day.

Why students panic

There are some typical reasons why students panic. One is that most students lack a solid background in mathematics, which is not their fault. Many high school teachers don’t bother to teach conceptual understanding, and instead jump into the exercises in order to finish their term syllabus as quickly as possible.

So when students start their university life with their paltry knowledge of math, they gradually become convinced that math is going to be a four-year long struggle. As a result, they become depressed and start to hate math. Of course, not all the students hate math. At AUW, you will find three types of students:

• Students that love mathematics so much.
• Students who hate mathematics vehemently.
• Students who actually don’t know whether they love the subject or not.

But there are many students in the second category. They feel out-of-sorts at quizzes. They make silly mistakes and spend a lot of time on a few problems, and never get to other, easier problems before time is up.

Students who are weak in mathematics need to work on the problems seriously instead of procrastinating. After attending their math classes, most of the students try to put off their homework and don’t attempt the exercises. This is a seriously bad habit, and if you are guilty of it, change immediately.

In varsity life, planning is a good thing. Try to practise all the problems and do your homework daily. If you get stuck, don’t fool yourself into believing that you are bad at mathematics. You can do well if you try your best to understand the concepts and work on the exercises regularly. If you need help, there are plenty of things you can do: going to the math centre, meeting with TAs, participating in group studies, and watching Khan Academy videos.

Students who have math anxiety can’t do well in the quiz because they don’t make the best use of the materials. Even students who do well get stuck on some of the problems, but they keep up their attempts to solve the problems. Weak students must be prepared to spend a significant amount of time to prepare themselves.

If you don’t want to struggle throughout the semester, work on your weak points now. Then you don’t need to keep yourself awake for the quiz and can pick the movie option instead. Good luck for exams!