How to overcome awful maths anxiety?

[MathsAnxiety]

This is for me, an adult woman. I am hoping I can get some advice as the physical issues are awful.

I am doing a course that work are paying for, will give me a qualification and I am in the last year of it.

The section I am on now is spreadsheets / maths. Every time I look at a spreadsheet full of numbers I literally clam up, shake, feel tearful. It's like it takes over my brain, even with examples I have zero confidence in myself. It's not dyscalculia, I looked that up - it's more like there is an overload of information on the page.

AIBU to ask for ways to get over this? Not doing it is not an option, I truly think I need to reset my brain somehow.

TIA

Have you a friend that could talk you through it?

Try to think of it this way, the spread sheet will do the actual maths for you. You just need to tell it what to do.

So take a deep breath. Look at the sheet, follow the instructions one step at a time, click the buttons and the maths is done.

What part of the course do you find less overwhelming?

Could you print a small section out or just one page and then cover most of it with a blank piece of paper but just have say five lines showing.
Then familiarise yourself with the layout and the headings. Baby steps but that and getting anyone you know who could talk you through it could make all the difference. Good luck.

Would it help to look through it with a tutor? Someone who can help you focus on one bit at a time. Once you get used to figuring some stuff out, your confidence will grow.

I say this as a maths teacher of many years. A few years ago, I helped an adult learner with some maths-based course work. He was quite embarrassed to begin with and I didn't really know the content, but I figured it out speaking my thoughts out loud and that helped him see how he could break it down. Within a few weeks, he was doing it all and I was just telling him, yep, you've got it!

Is it the maths or the spreadsheet you ate struggling with.

Is it percentages?

Above is a beginners excel tutorial.

If you can post what you need the spreadsheet to do I would be happy to help.

Do you have maths anxiety in other areas of maths, or just when being faced with an Excel spreadsheet? The fact that you are overwhelmed by the amount of information sounds like you need to start with smaller spreadsheets and work up to the one on the course?

I can understand the overload of too many numbers. I used to teach an adult class in maths and this feeling is very common.

When using spreadsheets, we spent 5 minutes looking at and talking through the columns and rows, summarising the range and noting any anomalies. The objective was to be reassured that the numbers were normal, we were in control, nothing to be anxious about.

We then moved on to thinking about our objective for the exercise and working on that.

Could you replicate this? Rather than look at the whole spreadsheet, follow the rows and columns, one by one. Look particularly for any numbers which are significantly higher or lower than others.

Spend just 5 minutes on this. Then go to your objective and focus on that.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for all the comments, I especially like @Marine30 suggestion of paper over each step to break it down.

I like the writing parts of the course and am not overly stressed by any other part, I just get head down and do it. I accept I am here to learn and that I learn from mistakes. But the maths bit makes me feel so overwhelmed.

The maths part is to do some fairly simple business calculations about costs and profits etc, the language used is unfamiliar as I don't work in finance. It probably doesn't help that there are a lot of accountants on the course who seem to understand everything very easily!

God it's such a relief that this is not unheard of.

I have worked with a lot of quite senior who have number panic. They just go "I don't do numbers" and seem to think it absolves them of budgetary responsibility for their project/department!!!

You will get there. Have someone explain what each column and row means, wrote it down above the headings or on the right of the row in a language you understand.

I used to teach Maths and ICT to adult learners. The way you feel is not uncommon! The feeling of being overwhelmed comes from trying to process too many unfamiliar things at once:

• the maths involved
• the context that you’re unfamiliar with
• the spreadsheet itself

Plus that horrible feeling one gets when other people seem not to have problems.
Others have suggested working through with a tutor, or even someone who is generally more confident with these things than you are. Both of these are good approaches, as is the print and cover idea. The other thing is to take time. You can’t rush these things. Do a little bit, then take a break. Simple breathing exercises might help, too. Good luck! You will be fine.

I can't thank you all enough for these, I am very grateful. I was in such a state when I tried to do it before, literally fell apart.

I will take a very deep breath and do small steps - writing it in language I get is a brilliant suggestion @RandomMess as are all the other messages of support / advice.

THANK YOU