You have just been handed a math test and you have 60 minutes to complete more than 100 problems. That’s not a lot of time to attack your work, but with careful planning you should be able to complete your test with time to spare. The following strategies can help you ace your test.
1. Do the easy problems first. After you write your name on top of the paper quickly review the test. There will be a number of answers that will come to you quickly. Plan to answer the easy problems first before tackling the more difficult problems later.
2. Work on the problems you did not answer. Once all the easy problems are out-of-the-way look at the remaining problems and split these into two groups. The first group will be problems that will take some work to complete; the second group will be those problems that will take much effort to do. Begin work on the first group immediately advises Mathnasium.
3. Go to the toughest problems last. Hopefully, the more difficult problems can be counted on one hand. You’ve already looked all the other problems and are certain that your answers are correct. Now, use those final minutes of your test to tackle the most difficult problems. Here, the best approach is to write out the problem on scratch paper and carefully check your results. Then, do the problem backwards to ensure that you got it right. You may not have time to solve every problem, but at least you’ll go through a few in a bid to raise your final grade.
How to Solve Word Problems
Most mathematic problems involve numbers, but some will require solving word problems. Here, you need to carefully read every word in the sentence and consider your answer choices, especially if multiple-choice is involved.
With multiple choice you typically will have four answers to consider. If you know the answer right away then draw a circle around it. If you’re not certain about the answer then rule out the two answers that you know are not correct. Time is of the essence when you have only two possible answers to consider. Choose the one that seems most sensible to you.
Turn Words Into Equations
Many times, words can be turned into an equation to answer the problem. For instance, the problem can go like this: Amanda has 27 apples and 14 oranges. How many pairs of fruit does she have?
Clearly, the answer to the question is 41. However, you must show your work. Here you must define the unknown variable. That would be X for the total number of fruit. Therefore you would add 27+14 = X. 41 = X. therefore, the answer is: There are 41 total fruit.
Decimals as Fractions
Your math test may require you to write the decimal as a fraction. The simplest way to do this has everything to do with decimal placement.
When dealing with a number in the tenths place, simply remove the decimal and divide by 10. For instance, the number is .5 then remove the decimal and place the five as the numerator and the 10 as the denominator. Your final answer would be one half.
For numbers in the hundredths place, take away the decimal then divide it by 100 and simplify. Use a similar strategy when dividing by thousandths. In each case you will quickly come up with the answer.
Simplifying Fractions
When simplifying fractions use the rules for divisibility. Start off with 2 and work with even numbers. Then divide those numbers by two without a remainder.
Next, go to 3 and find the sum of the digits by adding the digits together. If some can be divided by three then the number is divisible by 3. Next, try 5 and then proceed to 7 and so forth. Keep trying until the number is less than the divisor.
Math Made Easy
Likely, you have been studying diligently for your mathematics test all along. If so, your grade should reflect your hard work. Learning math takes practice and come test time you should be able to handle each problem without much guesswork.