What maths course can I get onto when I'm REALLY bad at it?

[MathsStruggle]

Hi all,

I should've done this years ago, but not having my maths GCSE is actually limiting me from starting a career I'd like to do.

I'm just wondering what course I could get onto which would be for beginners but where I could eventually go on to do my GCSE. There is no way I'd pass the maths test to get onto a GCSE course.

I've seen a 'Maths for Work and Study' course but I'm worried I'm just so bad that no course can help me :(

Any advice?

My husband got a B in his maths GCSE, he was trying to help me with a couple of the questions last night but he has a totally different way of working things out! I'll see if I can post an example of how he was working out one of the sums. I think I won't be able to listen to him because I'll get confused...I'm a bit like "this is the way" once I learn something 😅 even though the why he did it was petty clever! It won't help me in any exams!

In maths there are at least three ways to do everything.

Do you know how to do the 9 times table using your fingers?

No...how?

Having read your updates, l think it might be a good idea to go to a private tutor if you can afford it or there might well be a remedial class at a local college. It sounds as if you would do better to go back to the beginning and start again. There is absolutely no shame in this. In fact, anyone with any sense will agree with me that it takes great courage to admit to your problems and deal with them. Best Wishes, OP.

Thank you. I definitely have huge gaps in knowledge.
I'm worried no course will take me as I do need to start from the beginning. I'd love a tutor but I think I'd feel too self conscious, same as I did when I had a personal trainer!

Put your hands out in front of you, spread out your hands and fold down the little finger on your left hand - count your fingers that are not bent - you have 9.

Unbend the little finger and fold down the one next to it, now you have 1 finger, a gap where the finger is folded and then 8 - so you have 18.

Unfold that finger and fold the next one, you will have two fingers up, then a gap (well a folded finger) and then 7 fingers - 27

Just keep going.

There are loads of resources online to help you grasp the basics including a brilliant YouTube feed by Mr Hegarty (a maths teacher). BBC Bitesize is good as well. I have just done Maths GCSE aged 61 having never got the O'level. I loved it (don't know whether I passed yet though)

Honestly, a tutor wouldn't mind if you were right at the start. They can find out which bits you know and target the gaps appropriately. I often really enjoy adult pupils, honestly.

You might find when your children start school, the maths clicks with you too, as there will be a lot of work on the basics. It used to be better when there was a bigger focus on mental maths, as they really worked on understanding the number system and getting an internal sense of number. Now there is a bit too much emphasis on written calculations. But even so, you might find that a lot of it makes more sense to you know.

The worded problems are there to help you see how to apply the maths to the real world. So it is useful for you to know that rounding is a useful way to check answers. Or if you wanted to do something quickly and easily when shopping, you want to know that rounding will help. If they just taught you how to round and asked you directly to do it, it wouldn't show that you understood that part of it. So although it seems like it's over complicating things now, it will be helpful. But it's the sort of things that you get used to by doing lots of questions and not thinking of them as trying to confuse you, but thinking of them as deepening your knowledge about how to use maths.

I'm enrolled! Start in sept!

Good, well done, gopd it goes well.

@BigFatLiar thank you...my teacher seems a bit strict though! Maybe that's a good thing...hmm. Or it will make it harder for me to learn as I'll be more nervous. Not sure.

Looking forward to starting! :)

Well done. I hope all goes well for you.

That is really good news - can I give you a bit of advice though?
Don't keep putting yourself down - no more 'I'm bad at maths - this is impossible'
Train yourself to understand that you are learning and will make mistakes and that's part of the process - not a reflection on anything but more practice.
Enjoy the course - like really set special time for yourself to practice.
When you do 'get' something - like that lightbulb moment - take time to acknowledge the thrill and how much your hard work has paid off - when it gets tough again remember that moment.
You are much better than you think - any confidence issues you have are down to poor experiences not your maths abilities.
Good luck and remember you've got this.

Congratulations and good luck.

You can do it on your hands for 6-10 tables too.
www.easycalculation.com/funny/tricks/6-10-finger-multiplication.php

Look at functional skills or GCSE foundation level.

Right OP! I've not RTFT but I would put money on the fact that you're not as 'bad' at maths as you think you are.

I think you may have had poor teaching and people (especially women) are told maths is 'hard'.

Maths isn't hard or a foreign land, you're articulate, if you can understand and use the English language you can understand and use maths. You just need to find a good teacher.

If someone can't explain to you in very easy terms, any mathematical information, they are not a good teacher and they probably don't really understand it themselves.

You probably use maths every day. Have a think about how you use and understand numbers.

What do they mean to you?

I've just read the 'Lela' question.

I think that is really poorly structured. I would not have put that question in a functional maths paper.

See my above post. Poor teaching. I'm quite shocked by that question. It's unnecessarily convoluted. That would scare people away from maths. Not good.

And the 9x table with your fingers is just a little bit of arithmetic fun.

It's a really good idea to get comfortable with numbers, which is what arithmetic is, and what most people consider to be 'maths'.

Arithmetic is what the vast majority of people use when thinking of 'maths'.

I'm excellent at arithmetic and 'pretty good' at maths. I can explain most mathematical principles in a way that the majority of people would understand. I'm good at statistics and have a broad understanding of Mathematical logic. I trained as an actuary.

So I am not averse to maths.

My father is a genuine rocket-scientist though!

That is some serious maths.

Even so, my father is so skilled at maths he would be able to explain the most obtuse concepts to you in a way that you would broadly understand.

That is being 'good' at maths.

enrolled

Congratulations. I hope it goes well with you and you really enjoy learning this time round.

I love the way answers in maths can always be 'self checked' which I find so much more satisfying than having to send an answer out into the world not knowing whether it's right.

ps one of the best ways to check that you understand something, is to explain it to someone else. When the time comes for your DC to be learning maths, it's great if you can let them explain things to you. Will do wonders for their self confidence, if you can follow what they are saying.

Enjoy. This is a whole new world opening up for you. Congratulations on taking that first step.

Well done, OP!

I am good at basic maths. I remember and can use arithmetic, basic algebra and geometry - but my seven year old brings home worksheets that use language I don't understand. You'll be learning two things, how to work with numbers, and how to do maths questions.

I think you will be fine. If you can tell that 9 is bigger than 7 you aren't completely number blind. Everything else is learnable.

Hi all!

Trying to learn fractions.
Moved on to questions about half way values, thinking it was easy enough, but then this one popped up?!
Help!

(It's not homework or anything, just self learning)

Will try and post it...as it's not letting me at the moment ...

100%


Here we go!

The line which represents point 0 through to 1 is divided into 4 sections. It gets bigger as it moves across to the right and the higher numbers. This would be better represented if it was a coloured block.

each of these sections has a value of 1 out of the 4,, growing greater the further along you go, so the first section is 1/4, second section added on gives you 2/4, third is 3/4, and then 4/4 at the end. Can you see by looking that the 2/4 point is also a half or 1/2? and that 4/4 is the same as 1 (whole) because there are no sections missing.

So to work out the answer to your question, see where the point is on the line which comes half way between 0 and 3/4. I make it 1.5. To write this in fractions you write 1.5/4.

To get over the clumsiness of 2/4 you can change it by dividing it by any numbers that go into both. 2 goes into 2 one time so you can replace the 2 with 1, then see how many times 2 fits into 4. It fits 2 times, so you can write that as 1/2 - in other words a half. You get the whole '1' for 4/4 because 4 fits into 4 1/1 times, then you can divide the top by the bottom numbers and one fits into one once, henceforth equals a 1. sorry if this is confusing.

Please dont ever think you are thick when it comes to maths. it is very unlikely to be thickness in your case. It could be dyspraxia/discalculia which my daughter has. This means she has a masters degree but also is completely unable to read the time on a watch face unless it is digital. She would also be completely unable to understand my explanation for your question above, so please dont be discouraged if you also cant follow my blether . x

@yellowbananasinjuly Thanks for your reply! I'm trying to follow your answer through, I thought you couldn't include decimal points in your answer in regards to fractions.

In the end my husband worked it out as 3/8
But I still have no idea..............