Do math tutors ever suffer math anxiety?

I do, sometimes, when I know I’m going to have to teach a topic that lies at the outer boundary of my own expertise.

So, yes, I am feeling anxious right now, because this afternoon I’m going to have to help a student with some pretty sophisticated trigonometry (including those dreaded “ferris wheel” problems). It’s stuff I don’t do every day…and it’s hard!

Here’s how I’m coping:

Students ask me this all the time, usually in reference to some especially tedious math lesson.

And for years and years I worked hard to come up with sound explanations for WHY we need algebra, WHY chemistry is important, etc, etc…

Kids would listen and then look dissatisfied.

One day the lightbulb went on for me: I’m answering the wrong question!

Test preparation is big business these days, and I’m part of it.

I’ve been prepping kids for the SAT, ACT, PSAT, SSAT, ISEE and other tests, for decades now.

Is test prep a plus? Or does it do more harm than good?

In my opinion, it depends on how the preparation is done.

Is the goal merely to achieve a higher score? One common approach is to teach tricks and shortcuts, which supposedly produces higher scores quickly. JenBee wrote about how harmful this sort of coaching was for her:

I received this thoughtful response from to my last post about standardized tests and your child’s self-esteem:

I’m 36 years old and I’ve been harboring bitterness about the PSAT since I was 17. We took it in 10th grade and I got a really high score. This made me feel like the bar was set pretty high. Well, when I took it again in 11th grade… I bombed.

Your eleventh-grader is about to receive an early holiday “gift”: PSAT scores get sent home in early to mid-December.

For most kids, these scores (and other standardized test scores, such as the SSAT, ISEE, SAT, ACT, etc) hit hard, whether they’re bad or good! And it’s important to give kids the perspective and support they need to turn their results into personal empowerment, and not discouragement.

I’ve spent this week rehearsing the Big SAT Math Ideas with my students. Here’s a list of some of the most important.

Pass these last-minute refreshers along to any high-schooler you know taking the SAT on Saturday, May 1 (tomorrow!)

(And, take a look yourself and see how much you remember)

1. An integer is a whole number, including zero and the negatives. Fractions are not integers. Examples of integers: ….-3, -2, -1, 0, 1, 2, 3…
2. Figures on the SAT are drawn to scale unless they tell you otherwise. You can assume that segments that look equal are equal, angles are drawn to scale, etc.
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Many schools use a spiral review approach in their curricula. In the British system, for example, kids get one trimester each of biology, chemistry and physics every year, instead of taking these courses separately over full years.

Math texts always include review of the previous year’s skills before launching into the new work. Homework, summer review packets, mid-terms and finals, are all examples of spiral review.

There are unique challenges when applying a spiral approach to math learning. Math, unlike other subjects, is hierarchical. Concepts build on top of earlier concepts, and if any layer is weak the next layer will be even shakier.

Spiral review in math, therefore, MUST be individualized in order to be effective, and it must dig back to foundational concepts and reinforce these core understandings.

Unfortunately, math curricula which use a spiral approach often befuddle students by touching too lightly on new topics and then flitting away before students can get a handle on them. Students are often left with only vague notions of the new concepts, plus feelings of confusion and distress. No one likes to be taught something new and then left with the feeling that they “didn’t get it.” These kinds of experiences can contribute to math anxiety, disliking of math, and negative self-image.

Here are some ways you can use the spiral review technique to help your student or your own child:

• Revisit / review material periodically to refine and strengthen cognitive connections

• Practice regularly, not just right after the lesson or right before the test (think of it as “mental weight-lifting,” building mental muscles through consistent, moderate exercise)

• Do a few review problems that now seem easy, but used to be soooo hard! Make sure you point out how tough these problems used to be, and how much progress has been made.

Here in Connecticut it’s midterm (first-semester final) exam season and I’ve been working extra hard with students who are frantically trying to prepare.

I like the underlying philosophy behind midterms and finals, which is that learners should expect to retain what they were taught. Otherwise the focus is only on remembering information just long enough to regurgitate it for one test and then forget all about it. Cumulative exams force students to revisit material and, hopefully, entrench it more permanently in their heads.

But there’s also a lot of unfairness and counter-productivity in this system. I have one student, for example, who works very, very hard but has trouble remembering details. She does well on individual tests and quizzes but cumulative exams overwhelm her with the sheer load of material to be memorized.

We began studying together for her Algebra II midterm well in advance, and we’ve been working steadily ever since, plus she’s been doing tons of practice on her own. We’ve been using every study skills and memory enhancement technique available, and she’s come so far! I’m so proud of her!

Yet…”I wish I could carry a note card into the exam!” she sighed yesterday. I wish she could, too.  I truly can’t see why students shouldn’t be able to use their notes (isn’t this what note-taking is for?) to help them remember formulas and procedural details. Making students memorize such things can put tremendous stress on mental recall capacity and clutter the brain’s ability to process.

I wish I could spend my instructional time working on concepts, abstract reasoning and problem-solving. I would much rather explore why a formula works, or how the formula was derived or when to use it in real-life applications.  Instead, I spend way too much valuable tutoring time training students on mnemonic techniques.

There is a lot of talk lately on training kids to have “21st-century skills.” Usually this means learning to use and understand computers and other technology.

To my mind, 21st-century skills must include the age-old, basic skills of note-taking, note-using, and fact-seeking. With laptops available to everyone, who needs to memorize facts and figures anymore? Yes, students should be conversant with …

Last time I told the story of a pinched nerve in my right shoulder. Several minor injuries and stresses over years finally mounted up into this crazy pain and numbness all through my right arm and hand. I was agonized, frightened and confused! Fortunately, I found the right doctor, whose advice was:

Step One, Lessen the Pain

Therapeutic massage, a sling, and lots of Advil and ice packs took the edge off my pain, and within 24 hours I was able to move my arm again.

If I hadn’t gotten the pain under control, I wouldn’t have been able to do the stretching and mobility exercises I needed to do in order to address the underlying problem: traumatized muscles which had clenched down and were now pulling on each other and causing ever greater pain and numbness.

This experience seems a good metaphor for something I see in my students all the time. By the time I meet a new student, I’m confronting a kid who is not only struggling in his schoolwork, but who has built up negative emotions. Chances are he’s immobilized his mind in certain ways as an effort to avoid the pain of further learning experiences.

Step One is to lessen that pain.  I do this by being supportive  and enthusiastic…by pointing out the student’s strengths so he can regain perspective and feel better about himself…and by focusing, especially the first few tutoring sessions, on material with which he can feel success.

Step One: Lessen the Pain also applies in our personal relationships. How many relationships implode because the partners struggle against each other in exhausting, repetitive, non-productive ways? How often do attempts to communicate result in both people clenching-down on their emotions and positions? Thoughts and feelings become ever more extreme, more defensive, more distorted. After a while the pain is intense, random, crazy!

Often what a troubled relationship needs first is relief from pain and intensity. The treatment I give my new students applies here, too:  support, positive messages, the selection of experiences where success will happen.

Once the pain is lessened, then learning and progress can begin.

The SAT feels so important, but it’s only one of the pieces colleges use to evaluate you. Take the test seriously, but try to keep it in perspective. And remember, most kids take it twice, just to see if they can up their scores. So don’t treat it like the end of the world.

Anxiety, careless mistakes and other emotional hurdles

Begin studying well before the test, and study at a moderate, consistent pace. Your brain absorbs information best in modest portions, over time.

Focus on the Big Picture. The skills you are learning aren’t just going to boost your SAT score; they’re going to be a permanent part of you, through your whole life! You’re working on becoming a better reader, writer and problem-solver, and you’re going to be glad you invested this time and effort.

Learn about yourself. How do YOU learn best? What sorts of mistakes do you tend to make, and how can you catch yourself? What distracts you? What makes you nervous? What are your strengths? Does it feel good to understand something new? Use your SAT study to become more self-aware and therefore more self-confident.

The week before the test

Eat well and sleep enough, not just the day before the test, but as well as possible for the whole week before the SAT.

Eat a good diet, without too much sugar or caffeine, to get your brain and your nervous system running calmly.

Many students are nervous the night before the test and they don’t sleep well. If you’ve been getting enough sleep on the previous nights it won’t matter; you’ll still be fine.

For night-before or in-the-car-on-the-way-to-the-test study, choose a list of positive vocabulary words (words whose meanings are upbeat and optimistic) and review those. Some research has suggested that this sort of positive thinking can boost your attitude and have an impact on your performance…and it surely can’t hurt!

Breathe deeply, relax…you’ll do fine!