Awful at math?

[futurevet_11]

Advertisement - Members don't see this ad

so I'm really truly awful at math and there's a fairly good chance I will only get a C or below in precalc. Does that pretty much mean I'm screwed? I don't mean applying to vet school, but in the harder classes I'm bound to take.

Any help on how I might be able to improve my math is also greatly appreciated.

 

[Jess Monster]

Well, try to aim for a C. That's the minimum grade for prereqs at many vet schools. Look for more practice problems and seek out help from the professor and your peers if things aren't clear to you. That's all you can do to improve your grade.

As for being screwed in other harder classes if you don't ace a math course, well it depends. Why are you not doing well in this class? Are you not interested in the material? Are you not studying enough? Do you not understand things? Hopefully you're not a math major, right?

Overall, I would say a person's performance in pre-calc is not predictive of his/her abilities to cope with chemistry, physics, biology, etc. Most science courses have some underlying math involved but at the undergraduate level, it's not typically advanced math (i.e. you probably won't be using things you learn in pre-calc or calculus in these courses). So, if your problems don't stem from poor study habits or an inability to follow directions on a test, you'll probably be okay.

Have you taken any biology yet?

 

[LetItSnow]

Any help on how I might be able to improve my math is also greatly appreciated.

Unfortunately, there aren't shortcuts.

1) Tutoring
2) More time investment
3) Go beyond the homework. If you're assigned to do 12 problems, do 20.
4) Try different approaches. If you always do it in your room at your desk, try a coffeeshop. If you always use music, turn it off. If you don't use music, turn it on. If you start with the problems and try and reference the chapter to solve them, stop and take time to read the chapter first. Just .... change things up a little bit and see if studying a different way helps make the material more penetrable for you.

I don't think struggling in pre-calc will necessarily doom you for other classes, no. And there are definitely those one-off classes we all struggled with for whatever reason. But it's important to be able to push through tough classes and get at least a C. So I'd try hard to figure it out.