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New Delhi, January 2006

  
 
Does maths give you nightmares?
Published on Fri, Feb 24, 2006 at 14:00, Updated on Fri, Feb 24, 2006 at 14:03 in India section
New Delhi: He's been taking tuitions for the past year. He has revised his entire course twice, solved umpteen number of sample papers, but algebra and geometry continue to haunt him.

Shivendra, 15, is one of those suffering from Maths Phobia this year. Figures available suggest 35 per cent of Boards students flunk their Maths paper every year.

"Sometimes I feel as though I don't know Maths at all. I don't have the aptitude for Maths. It perturbs me. Before each Maths exam, I have nightmares of what I am going to do. What if I get a zero in the test or something like that!" says Shivendra Mahalingam, a student of Modern School.

Shivendra is one among the 11 lakh students who will write the Boards this year. On March 9, this student of Class 10 has to face his worst nightmare - his Maths paper.

Amber Habib, an Associate Professor with the Mathematical Science Foundation has been running a Maths helpline for students for the past three years. And he has a few tips to offer.

"You will be able to do the harder things better towards the end of the exam. And you should never allow yourself to get stuck on any one problem for very long. Even if you feel that you could push through a problem, you should skip the tough one and come back to it only after you are through with the easy ones. Work on the easier ones first," says Habib.
Here is a word of advice from Habib:
  • To begin with - always write clearly the basic data of the question as the 1st part of your answer. Believe it or not, doing that will fetch you a mark.
  • Solve every problem in steps and be careful not to miss a single step, that will cost you a mark. In geometry, aim at getting your diagram right.
  • Write the paper clearly and neatly. And do all your roughwork on a separate sheet of paper. And most importantly attempt the simplest questions first.
  • Also, a good night's sleep before the paper helps.
Maths is no magic, they say. So, one can do much better if he or she takes the subject head one, instead of shying away from it. After all, it's all about taking a logical course to solve a problem.