How Math Is Different from Other Subjects

1. Math requires different study processes. In other courses, you learn and understand the material, but you seldom have to actually APPLY IT. You have to do the problems.

2. Math is a linear learning process. What is used one day is used the next, and so forth. (In history you can learn chapter 2 and not 3 and do OK on 4. In math, you must understand the material in chapter 1 before you go on to chapter 2.)

3. Math is much like a foreign language. It must be practiced EVERY DAY, and often the VOCABULARY is unfamiliar.

4. Math in the university is different from math in high school. Instead of going to class everyday, in college you go only two or three times a week. What took a year to learn in high school is now covered in only fifteen weeks.

Exercise: Given the four differences above, make a list of specific study strategies you will use in studying math.

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2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

This information can be found on page 119 of The Study Skills Workbook, third edition, by Dr. Carolyn H. Hopper.

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