I'll NEVER be good at Math.....right?

This was something that happened to me when I was sec 4. I thought I'll never be good at math. But somehow, I got an A in A levels.

I started out good actually, in Primary 1 and 2, I could get 90 marks and above for my math papers. And then everything just went downhill in the final exams during Primary 2. I did really badly for math. From then on, I believed that math was simply not for me.

And that continued all the way till secondary school. I wasn't good at math, but I wasn't terrible at it either. I was always the average student (though somehow I got an A* for math in PSLE....) So yes, in secondary school my math was usually a B, sometimes I would do worse, like fail a paper. And I was entirely convinced then, that I would never be able to get A for it. Like really. I would always wait hopefully for the return of the math papers, only to look at my normal B grade or something worse. And then I would smile and tell myself: oh well, expected.

Then something happened. In Sec 3 during a common test, I got back my paper for A math, and realised that I got an A* for it.

It is hard to describe how I felt, the surprise, shock, disbelief, joy and just....mind-blown in general. I had always believed that math was out of my reach, but all of a sudden, I....got it?

This must have been what Einstein felt, when he suddenly did well for math in his older years.

My believes have completely been overturned by my own hands. It was....surreal.

But from then on, I had a growing hope and confidence, that I can actually do it.

I didn't do well all of a sudden. I continued getting Bs for a while, till the final exams in sec 4. I went crazy and got 89/100 for my E Math paper. And got 69/100 for my A Math paper. One is an A*, the other a B. The disbelief, and believe. I actually got a high score on a paper that the usual math geeks in my class didn't score well on.

Sometimes I wonder if I am a weirdo.

But yes. I had confidence from then on, that I can make Math a possibility. I did a 180 and just believed that I was actually good at it, I just had to work hard on it. And then I worked hard, practiced like mad, and came up with many tips and tricks of my own to help me conquer math.

And I did it. I got an A for A level.

So when my sister told me that she thinks math is a lost cause for her, I simply reply with one word: Bullshit.

Telling yourself that something is a lost cause, and thus giving up on it, is a sorry excuse for your lazy and weak self.

I was once that lazy and weak person, giving up on a subject just because I thought I wasn't good at it.

They key here is to take is as a "life or death" issue. Yeah I know what you're thinking: dude, what life or death, its just a freaking exam paper, just a freaking alphabet on a freaking piece of fancy paper.

When I mean treating it as a "life or death" issue, I mean in the way you handle it. Not react to it. So don't go jumping buildings or bridges now.

Very simply, treat every paper that you do, especially during an exam, as a survival quest. It is either be eaten (by the paper) or eat (the paper). When you look at it this way, you'll be surprised how efficiently your brain suddenly works.

And also, for math especially, practice.

When I say practice, I don't mean doing math questions often, or frequently, or completing your assigned tutorials/homework. I mean, going crazy doing it, till you get so sick and tired of it you actually feel like vomiting on the pure thought of it.

Because that was precisely what I did. I was doing, on average, 5 math papers every week for the last 3 months leading to the A levels. Just keep doing the paper, looking through your mistakes and making sure you learn from it. And then repeat over and over again. By the time A levels came, my body will actually physically react to the thought of doing another math paper, as in I would flinch, goosebumps will rise, and I just don't want to touch it anymore.

Ok, a bit extreme, but yeah. Because its do or die, "life or death" remember? If you are stuck in a jungle with absolutely no helpline, will you sit and stone till death, or look for food and shelter to try and survive? Animals, when driven to a corner, will do absolutely anything to get out of it. Humans, when absolutely hungry, will hunt the mouse they call pest.

That is exactly the mentality to treat a math paper, and all your papers actually.

So don't go believing that you can't do math, or anything in general, and giving up on it. Because that is you giving yourself the death sentence. Instead, give yourself hope, give yourself a way out. Because you can, actually, possibly, do it.