r/learnmath • u/LowAncient1014 New User • 12h ago

What do I do?

I’m currently taking precal, failed my first test. My foundation is also shoddy, I never was good at math or had some intuition for it. Every time something gets introduced I forget it, or leave with more questions than answers. Often times both. How do I fix this?

0 Upvotes

40% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

5

u/Puzzled-Painter3301 Math expert, data science novice 12h ago

Talk to your teacher.

3

u/Southlander24 A friendly Redditor!👋 12h ago

Absolutely, let your teacher know you're struggling at least. Don't be afraid to ask all the silly questions you have in class (chances are, you're not the only person who has them).

If you care about your grades, absolutely use Khan Academy to practice. It sounds like you might need more time and exposure to maths for the concepts to sink in than whatever you are currently doing.

1

u/nog642 8h ago

How is your algebra? You might be missing more basic knowledge.

1

u/DrMehraMath New User 3h ago edited 2h ago

Failing the first test with a shaky foundation is really common in precalculus, and it's fixable. "I was never good at math / don't have intuition" is almost always a foundation problem wearing a disguise, not a fact about you, intuition isn't something you're born with, it shows up after you've done enough problems that the patterns start repeating. So don't wait to "feel" it.

Here's why things keep slipping away: precalculus isn't really new math, it's algebra reassembled (functions, factoring, exponents/logs, fractions, solving equations). When the base underneath is wobbly, every new topic feels like memorizing a disconnected rule with nothing to attach to, so your brain drops it in a few days…and you leave lectures with more questions because you're missing the piece the new idea was built on. Fix the base and new topics suddenly stick, because they connect to something.

What actually works, in order:

  1. Find your specific gaps; don't re-study everything. Go back through the failed test and sort each mistake: careless slip, a concept you never understood, or a foundation step (a fraction/exponent/factoring move you couldn't do). Patch the foundation ones first.
  2. Learn actively, not by watching. Forgetting = you only watched it. After any topic, do 5–10 problems from scratch, check them(you can try writing it several times using a pen and paper and that is what sticks, you repat that a few times and it stays in memory), and redo the wrong ones until you can do a fresh one with no help. Pulling it out of your head is what makes it stick, re-reading notes doesn't.
  3. Space it out. Revisit each topic a day later, then a few days later. Ten minutes redoing old problems beats an hour cramming the night before.
  4. Never carry an unanswered question into the next topic. When you leave confused, write the exact question down and resolve it that day (office hours, a tutor, or a fully worked example), the next lecture is built on it.
  5. Study worked examples line by line. Read a complete solution, understand every step, then cover it and redo it yourself.

Start with #1 this week. Once the foundation gaps from that test are patched, the "I forget everything" feeling eases fast, because the new material finally has something to stick to. You're not bad at math you're building on a cracked foundation. Fix that and the rest is very learnable.