With anything really, it is crucial that you understand the newly learned concepts and put them to the test repeatedly.
Your ultimate goal in math should be "fast and accurate solving". Now, here are 3 keys on "how to boost my math marks quickly."
1.Find the right resources on the web
Now, the topic here focuses on improving your math marks quickly. So, going through the whole textbook would actually be quite inefficient (though it may be of use if you want to improve your marks gradually).
What I noticed is that sometimes you can resort to resources on the web that demystify and simplify the same material you learned in class which helps you understand the concepts faster. Again, no matter how last-minute your studying is, you can't skip this step. If you are not a fast reader and more of a visual learner, I urge you to resort to short and condensed Youtube videos and Khan Academy tutorials that teach you the material in a shorter period of time. It will be of great utility if you learn to find useful resources in a timely manner.
2. Skim through worksheets with answers
Now you may be wondering why I would suggest that you immediately look at answers instead of working the problems on your own. Well, it turns out that you can actually learn how to solve problems in the process of demistifying how the answers came about. For instance, for someone who has no idea how to count the number of terms in a polynomial (e.g. x^2 + 2xy + 2). If you see that the answer is, "3 terms," you begin to decode why it might be 3. Say, another question of same context asks how many terms there are in x^2 + 3 and the answer is "2 terms", you begin to suspect that the answer might stem from how many numbers or variables exist in between the + sign, which essentially will allow you to come up with the correct answers. I'm not suggesting that you learn all of your material by trying to demistify and decode like this, but it may be of use sometimes when you are short on time.
3. Expose yourself to more questions than covered in class
As I stated earlier, good math marks will come from your ability to solve fast and accurately. The only way to really achieve that is to go beyond the practice questions covered in class and to work on worksheets you can find on the web (or extra resources your teacher provides). Now, you gotta remember that there is no use in doing similar questions of same difficulty over and over again to make yourself feel good. Once you feel comfortable with those types of questions, move onto the next set of problems that are more difficult and challenging. This way, you will be prepared for the test that will have questions of varying difficulty (especially if your teacher likes to challenge you guys).
4. Pretend to give a presentation on the topic
This is my secret go-to technique whenever I need to learn something quickly and effectively. It is to pretend to give a presentstion on the topics that will be tested (for instance, give a presentation on what a polynomial is, what terms mean, and what like terms mean). Many already know that you can know your information either by recognition or by heart. Knowing by heart means that you know the information well and in depth where you are able to deliver and teach the material to others. Knowing by recognition doesn't enable you to do so, since you can only recognize the material when someone else presents it to you. The pretend presentation is done precisely to learn the material by heart, and I find that you retain the material much better and longer which will help boost those marks.
Indeed, it isn't just applicable to math but also to every other class you may currently be taking. I recommend that you incorporate this technique whenever you prepare for exams.
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