Yeah, I'm just trying to get my mind back on school. I've been dealing with some stuff here recently, and this class has been a big wake up call. Can't half-ass it.
My experience with people tutoring people in college algebra is that they learned it incorrectly in high school. They try to solve problems like they did in high school, but since they were doing it wrong then...they are still doing it wrong. My suggestion is to do every problem in your textbook. Generally the odd answers will be given to you. Have someone that knows math to check to make sure you are doing the problems correctly. Redo every problem in the textbook for a section until you can get every problem correct and know why it is correct. Weekend before a test, redo every problem for every section covered. This is overkill for people that are good at math. However, if you have a flaw in how you are doing certain problems, you should be able to find it.
I'm actually doing real well on the proofs, the translations of the sentences have been a bit of a stumbling block though. The professor is old-school in that he expects us to read all the material and come to class ready to ask intelligent questions rather than relying on him to walk us through everything.
In my first year at college, I had one semester of Math for Liberal Arts Major's; it made it up to about what I learned in 5th grade. Then several years later (I was a professional student) the Dean of Liberal Arts called me into his office and said I had more than enough hours to graduate but was still showing "undecided" as a major. He looked at my transcript, laughed at the fact that I had taken nearly every class offered at the school, except math, and credited my semester of astronomy as my second year of math. I guess when your wife's godfather is the Dean of Liberal Arts, you get a pass.
I had to take that class as a prerequisite to get into the Master's program I am now enrolled it. Talk about a waste of time. The only cool thing about it, is the teacher practically let me teach the class. So I did some fun stuff with the Fibonacci sequence and golden ratio.
Another math major here - I actually teach 3 classes online for the local community college including the first precalculus which is algebra (the 2nd one is trig). I loved calculus and differential equations. Linear algebra was okay (although it was a lot harder in graduate school) and I absolutely detested probability and statistics, lol (took only 1 semester which is what was required). Where I had trouble was the pure abstract math like Metric Spaces (which was basically a topology course) and Graph Theory. Both of those courses kicked my ass in graduate school and the reason why I didn't get my master's. Where I went to get my undergrad - they didn't have a good math course that showed you how to prove theorems which is needed in the classes I listed above as well as advanced calculus, number theory, abstract algebra, real analysis, etc. But anyway what Crisco and Joe Joe said is what I would tell you. Getting good at math is like getting good at shooting free throws. You have to practice, practice, and do more practice. When I took calculus, I wanted to work every problem in the book, lol. You don't have to be quite like that, but you do have to spend some time - more than you would on other classes. I would purchase a solutions manual and try to understand why the answers to certain problems are the way they are. Good luck.
I'm a freshman in college algebra now. My professor is ass. She takes up the whole board for one problem. Then, she gives us at least 40 a night (so, I mean, at least 80 a week, not bad, but still). There are people in the class doing half the steps that the teacher is doing and coming out with the same answers. It's how this girl is teaching me now. Hopefully, it doesn't come back to bite me in the ass, but I am always wondering why the teacher takes the scenic route with every problem.
Yeah I was doing perfectly fine in all my math courses, all of them were a relative breeze for me(math major as well). That is, until real analysis. Was thinking I would get my masters for sure in math til I took that class, now I'm not so gung-ho about it. A lot of my peers feel the same way though. I know one really bright, disciplined girl who flunked the class 3 times already. If I do go after that masters I'm going to have to teach myself the material in that class all over again because I passed it but don't feel confident about the material AT ALL. The logic stuff is probly my fav topic in my math classes.
The reason the teachers do every single step is cuz if you start doing steps in your head and not translating them on paper, that's where a lot of really simple mistakes start appearing in your work that can **** up your whole solution. I remember I used to try and fit as many problems as I could onto my pieces of paper. It's much better to just learn to write faster, write down the whole process, and waste as much paper as you possibly can. Used to do the same thing with taking notes.
I should do that because one problem can take up half a page. Looks so overwheming when I start homework.
I placed out of taking College Algebra and started at Calculus 1. Did Cal 2, Cal 3, Engineering Math (Ordinairy Diff Equations), Partial Differential Equations and Advanced Linear Algebra. I believe its goes something like this. Middle School Algebra = High School Algebra 1 High School Algebra 1 + High School Algebra 2 = College Algebra I find math easy. Advanced Linear was the hardest because it was so abstract. But I remember Partial Differential Equations had problems that took 3 pages of work to solve.
I got a double major in bio and chem, but I took college alg 2 times from the same teacher in back to back semesters and made a C. For some reason I had trouble with college algebra.
I took the equivalent of Calc 2 in highschool, then I got out of basic college math with my AP scores So when I went to pick my first semester freshmen classes, my advisor was like, oh hey why not take Calc 3 since you're good at math and so I did BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER, what a load of ZzZzzzzZzzzz Calc 3 was
If you are having trouble with college algebra, a google search comes up with some great video tutorials.
Good luck to the OP. As others have said, understanding the basic concepts is key since that will enable you to ace tests and quizzes. Try to get in a study group if you can, or do tons of practice problems until you can duplicate the concepts. It's difficult to pick up concepts when you get a bad teacher. I have a degree in mathematics, and I struggled with a few upper level classes due to poor instruction. I also got tripped up with some low level physics problems that gave me fits and really shouldn't have. Practice and banding together with fellow classmates helped immensely. If you can afford it, you might want to look at a private tutor. Or as others have noted, there are great videos online that could probably help as well.
Not to be mean or anything, but if you are in college then Algebra should be a piece of cake for you. Your college level math comprehension level should be at at Calculus I at the very least.
This thread is a trip. I just sent my son out of state to college and he's a math major. They told him not to take any math courses because he's already at the junior level. The kid already had 30 hours of credit, a bunch of it in math, before stepping on the campus, which I'm proud of, but I don't know how he did it. He must have skipped a generation, because I'm strictly a humanities kind of guy and his mother has two degrees in sociology. He'd be laughing at everyone here who's had a problem with math. Not me, because I suck at it.
