Required to pass a mathematical exam by 30th November - I'm terrible at maths

[EsterOdesavitch]

A few of us at work have been selected to take a specific industry exam to give us greater credibility with certain types of corporate clients. I'm on that list because I already provide consultancy services to those same clients, but I am to branch into this further niche area apparently. I said I would as I have some experience, but at the time I didn't know the exam would be mandatory.

We've been given a deadline of end of Nov, employer is paying, and it's a 2 hr, advanced diploma level multiple choice question paper. I've just picked up the text book and some mock papers, and I am absolutely shitting myself.

I don't understand about 50% of it and can't make head nor tail of the calculations - maths was the only area I was ever poor at at school (otherwise I was quite academic), and the only small element of the entrance exams for this industry that I failed once or twice when I started. We have some training days scheduled with a rather brilliant trainer at our firm who looks about 12, but I've seen him in action before, I know he's going to put people on the spot and I'm going to look thick.

I'm 47, perimenopausal and foggy minded as it is, most days I can just about remember how to find the bog. How the fuck am I going to get through or get out of this?

Could you speak to the “12yo” trainer beforehand and say you’re working on the maths but it’s been a while, please don’t pick on me as I won’t know the answer?

Sounds hard, you have my sympathies! What kind of maths is it?

Could you pay for 1 or 2 sessions with a tutor? I've done similar with friends before interviews, grad scheme numeracy assessments etc.

3 months to study for an advanced diploma is a bit tight.

for most of this kind of maths, you just need practice and more practice. so get hold of as many practice questions as possible. work through them, and get feedback to make sure you understand the answers.

and yes, a tutor might be a good idea if that is feasible. Is this work equivalent to maths A-level?

What kind of maths are we talking? Can you give us a flavour of the types of questions? I also struggle with maths, and have found you tube has tonnes of video lessons on all sorts of concepts, which I've found incredibly helpful.

Find a friendly tutor, I have tutored a number of adults for things like this.

If Maths is not your forte, it is going to look scary a good tutor will help. As with other suggestion, speak to the tutor first and tell him, I would never ask a student in class a question if I was told this - I had an email to this effect on Friday

I am doing maths as part of a degree I started recently, I hadn't done maths for about 20 years and when I did I barely scraped a pass.
I've used khan academy to help with the basics and then I use lots of past tests, quizzes etc I try and do them, if I get stuck I go on YouTube as there is pretty much a video for every maths concept you can think of! I try to do an hour or two of that every day.
Good luck you can do it!

It's all about investment portfolio theory - calculating interest yields, interpreting share dividend and the like. In fact I'm trying to think of some of the mock questions I've seen to give some examples, and I've already gone blank.

I have 3 mock papers, a load of study notes and the full text book. I've got hundreds a calculation questions to practice but I think I'm panicking, it's like reading a foreign language.

corbettmaths on youtube might help.

I'd try to speak a peak at KS2 (upper primary) KS3 (y7-9) and GCSE level CGP maths guides, paying attention to the percentages and 'powers' and possibly ratios topics.

Find where you start getting lost and go from there. if you don't have the basics solid, then piling on harder questions won't help you.

I’d get some private tutoring every week until the exam. I have found constant repetition the only way with maths

Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to go back to basics. I tend to overthink and overcomplicate maths problems, the number of occasions I've had to calculate compensation or redress based on a growth rate taking into account fund charges etc and had a meltdown...

30th of November is doable, i had to teach myself that kind of thing to help coach one of my DS's through an Applications of Maths exam at College. My advice is it is easier to go right back to basics and move up difficulty levels relatively quickly rather than flounder about at the level you are expected to reach feeling stuck. I'd look up school maths resources to get started on. Lots of stuff about interest rates and yields and ratios in SQA Applications of Maths.

I think I know the exam...

Go for a specialist tutor to help you get your head round it - possibly just a few sessions to begin with till it stops looking like Greek.

Finance Talking might be a good place to start.

Thank you all so much. I don't feel much better but at least I have somewhere to work from.

You've probably guessed it Pauline - J10.