Without a doubt one of the most mentally intimidating school subjects for many people, is math. Many find it overwhelming to find any clarity or meaning behind the endless numbers and math systems, and so find themselves in a mental shutdown. Especially with all the newer and stranger ways of "learning" math. But it really shouldn't be this way; conceptually math is one of the simplest subjects to learn. There isn't any great complexity to adding 2 & 2 together. But memorizing the longer processes in division and some forms of multiplication can just be too much for some. Admittedly, there are some people who seem to be born with numbers in their head. Math can be very easy and natural for some, whilst others (including myself) found it to be one of the most stressful subjects to learn.
I would consider the advice of focusing on memorizing fundamentals until you're fully confident in them, but many (if not most) math courses expect you to learn what they teach quickly. Like I said before, this is okay for some, but whenever I was expected to know something, and I didn't, it didn't just affect my knowledge of that subject, but would drag my entire math performance down. The best time I had with math was when I recited the different processes into memory. When I sped up my pace of learning, I didn't do so well. To me there was no understanding it. "Why should I have to remember all of this?" And the answer would be: "Because you do." Which is quite possibly the most infuriating answer in existence. Not only did I not understand the process, I didn't have a reason to remember them in the first place. When math began to click for me, it was when I began Algebra, giving me scientific reasons for following certain methods. Of course Algebra presented its own problems, which I will talk about later.
What is it that I'm trying to say about all of this? You'll have to figure out what works for you. With math, some people find easy in some ways, others find it an endless heap of despair. Truthfully, math was the bane of my educational existence (especially with division/fractions) until I began Algebra, and I hope that you won't face the same uphill battle with it that i did. Listen to what different people say. There isn't one magical way that math becomes reasonable for everyone, and maybe that was what my struggle was. Math courses seem almost to be aggressive in nature, "You must understand this by ____, or else you will fail!" I don't think my experience with arithmetic was quite as extreme as that, but it had its moments. Similarly, many may claim that their method is best, and what with the many different concepts of learning math (not to mention the admittedly ridiculous 'Common-core') that notion is preposterous. No one thinks the same way. Learning math is like learning a language, we start with what is taught us by observing, but ultimately we don't all sound like our parents, not do we all still sound like toddlers. Math holds many universally accepted truths, but how you learn it isn't one of them. You may still feel the pressure of your teachers or your programs, but try not to let any of their ultimatums sway you to the dark side of learning. I can't promise that math can always be fun, but I hope at least it won't pull you down. It shouldn't. Keep things in perspective. Take multiple opinions. Find what works for you.
Best to you!
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