Persevering and weathering the storm that will only get stronger? I've suffered enough at the hands of this cruel slave driver.
Would now be a good time to ask for a tutor?
(And I would like to apologise to those students who actually love this subject. Hope you understand where I'm coming from.)
Hey there. I totally understand where you're coming from. In fact, as I was reading through your post, I was astonished by how much everything you were saying resonated with me and my feelings towards this fairly unpleasant, unforgiving subject. Literally everything you've said makes a lot of sense. So maybe you won't think much of what I have to say since I'm no maths whiz or genius, but I thought I'd offer it anyway. I absolutely despise circular functions and have always been annoyed with the sheer amount of time and effort I have to put into comprehending concepts, let alone answering textbook questions (incredibly time consuming) and furthering my knowledge with checkpoints/additional applied questions/vce exam questions.
First off, I don’t think solely focusing on checkpoints is going to be the best approach. I feel you on the falling behind at a rapid rate (my teacher does an average of 3-4 exercises per lesson and that’s 4 lessons a week so I would know about falling behind A LOT), but as guac said, in order to do further questions, harder questions, checkpoints, exam questions etc, you really need to consolidate your understanding of the concepts first. You need to properly and fully grasp the content before hurtling ahead and doing all the more practical questions. Now, when you’re doing textbook questions, don’t do them ALL. My school has excel spreadsheets of selected questions, but I’ve never looked at those, instead, since you are the best judge of your own abilities, strengths and weaknesses, if there’s a topic/concept you’re struggling in, as much as it’s boring and repetitive and time-consuming, the only way it will get easier, is to do MORE of those types of questions. Also more of the challenging chapter review questions. Whereas if you find certain topics/concepts simple and you find after doing a few questions you grasp them easily, as I said they are repetitive so move on to other types of questions. But I can not stress the importance of textbook questions enough.
In terms of efficiency, while I used to stare and stare at a hard question for hours, that is not a productive way to use your time, I can guarantee the solution won’t magically pop into your head all of a sudden, so make a note (do NOT just skip it and ignore it and never come back to it, I have been guilty of this, but really you shouldn’t), and then the next day maybe have a look again, and it might come to you, but if in most cases you are still stuck, ASK your teacher. Your teacher is an incredibly valuable resource, they are there to help you achieve your very best, they WANT you to do well. I ask my teacher for help almost every lesson, and with me and other students, once she’s finished teaching the class the material, she will spend as much time as needed with us individually to make sure we understand, even going into recess and lunch and just book times with your teacher outside of class too. If your teacher isn’t willing to help you then don’t be afraid of asking previous maths teachers you had or other maths teachers. Otherwise, I would highly recommend a tutor. I have one, he has greatly improved my understanding, and is so so helpful. Once you ask for help, things will start clicking into place. Methods is not an easy subject by any means, and I know you know this, but you won’t see results unless you keep pushing.
I definitely understand the feeling of ‘Mt Everest worth of work’, and you and I have probably heard this a million times, but you just need to take that step and start again. Once you start, you will keep going, Methods is only for 6 more months, not for a lifetime. Try your best to keep going and pushing till then.
You can’t give up, I can tell you, with effort, time, dedication and perseverance, it will all work out, and you will see results.
Hopefully you found this helpful. If you need any more help with anything, just ask me!