I lack the math skills please help!

[Enger]

Hi, this is my first time posting on this board. I'm currently a freshman at University of Minnesota-Duluth and I have just switched my major from Graphic Design to the Pre-Vet program(yes I know, huge jump =)) Anyways, what I wanted to know was I never really did so hot in high school at math and I was wondering if anyone else had this problem before they decided to become a vet? If so, how did you deal with it or improve your math skills?? I plan on taking full advatage of the tutor center at my college, did you do that as well? did it help? Any advice would be very helpful!!!

 

[Iain]

\Maths is very easy, if you approach it the right way. It is like building blocks - you learn a bit then add on, so in order to do well, you have to study and master the first portion before you move on. Spend 1-1.5 hours per night studying, going over the recent problems, and practice problems in the book no matter how hard they are and do not peak in the back before you are done. You can not cram for maths, and be aware if you get behind it is so difficult to get caught up - so continuously study, use the tutors and you should do fine.

Just remember vets have to be twice as good at maths as doctors, their patients on average have half the number of legs ours do.

 

[natelam]

Hi there, I went from Computer Science with a growing photography/graphic design business, to Vet Med in 2 years, and I made it in to MSU, so don't let your change of plans discourage you. They will love that you are skilled in other areas and will want to know how you plan to bring it into the field.

In terms of math, the best way to brush up basic math is to go back and do some SAT practice tests. Sounds silly? The math on the SAT is easy enough so that you should be able to breeze by, but intuitive enough to make your thought processes stick in your memory. If you're trying to recover some calculus, audit a course or two at a community college before you take the real thing. Coming from graphic design where you're always thinking about proportions and dimensions, doing basic math in your head must come very easily, and this is really the math you'll be using in the future. Believe me, you won't be using differential equations to calculate drip rates.

-Nate

 

[bern]

SAT practice tests are a great idea! You will need to take the GRE to apply to vet school, and I found most of the math on the GRE to be very similar to that on the SAT I. It's also some of the basic stuff that you end up using in your general science pre-vet classes. If you take calculus-based physics (which doesn't seem to be required by most vet schools), you'll obviously need calculus, but other than that it's predominately algebra and some statistics.

You might also want to check out practice tests for the SAT II Math - if I remember correctly, there were three different levels you could choose from. You can probably find some practice tests directly on their website.

 

[muttmommy]

I'm so glad someone brought that up - I was never very strong at math either and in fact, that is the one thing that has been keeping me from applying. However, I have come to the conclusion that you shouldn't let one thing stand in your way when you might be good at so many other areas. I also think that most of the time, if you took a class or two that helps tremendously. You might not ever get straight A's - but you could learn enough to pass with a respectable grade. I like Iain's answer - math is very much like building blocks. I think I missed a few blocks way back when.

Good luck!!