I’m in my senior year of highschool, and about to graduate. I got admitted into the university I was hoping to and am super excited to get out of my house and into the post-secondary life. However, my admission is conditional and requires me to have a 76 average across my top 4 Grade 12 marks. Shouldn’t be too difficult, right? The problem lies in math. I have ALWAYS been horrible at math. Ever since grade school, I’ve failed tests, been too ashamed to hand in work, or been totally lost in classes. My other marks are all fine, mid to high 80’s, but I was worried my math mark was going to drag them down. Along comes midterms, and I’m sitting at a comfortable 65. Not bad, could be better, but I’m maintaining the average I need to get in to university. I thought I was okay. Today, my teacher sends my parents an email saying I’m failing the course.
He doesn’t give an exact mark, but I figure the specifics don’t really matter too much. The problem, as I’m sure you can tell, is that this brings my average below what I need, and even if it didn’t, I still won’t pass highschool. I have been going to a math tutor, going to classes, and trying to focus, but nothing seems to help. I’m diagnosed ADHD, and have prescribed medication, but they just don’t seem to do anything regarding math. My math teacher says I can come in for extra help to boost my grade, which I’m planning on doing, but my concern is that I still won’t grasp the material and this won’t help. Strip everything else away, and the simple fact is I am not good at math.
I’m sure some people will tell me I just haven’t been trying, or not applying myself, but I put my full effort into this and nothing seems to come from it. It takes a very specific situation for me to learn well in, and if I’m not interested in the topic I’m learning about it’s super difficult for me to hold onto any concepts presented to me. I have tried to find ways to make mathematics intriguing to me, but even when I learn something, I forget it by the next day. This is not a memory issue, as I have no issue saying I have a great memory, it’s just something about math itself.
Another issue is my teacher, I don’t get along super well with him and even my friends who are good at math have a hard time understanding his lessons. In the best case scenario, the teacher shares information in a way I can understand and I scrape by the class with a 60-70. In this situation I am totally lost. Any and all advice would be appreciated, please help a kid who needs to improve his math grade.
TL;DR: Senior year highschool student sucks at math, is failing course, and may not get into university because of it.
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Can I have some
Hang in there. My husband failed a math course once. Now he has a PhD in math and is a professor.
I think sometimes math takes a while to click. It can be scary.
Your teacher is trying to help by emailing instead of just failing you at the end. Go to every single tutoring session with your teacher, even if you don’t like him. Show him that you’re willing to study hard, an if he can see that you’re still struggling, he may bend the rules a bit and give you a “Gentleman’s C”.
Your teacher doesn’t want to wreck your chances at college. Go get tutored and kiss the ring and it may do the trick.
Have you considered checking for dyscalculia?
Find your course on Khan Academy, ask your teacher which concepts you should focus on, and start watching the associated videos and doing the lessons.
I was in the same boat for different reasons. Got early acceptance to uni because of my honor roll status, so my lazy ass decided to coast for the rest of the year and I underestimated my ability to wing it at math exams without studying and was in jeopardy of failing. I don’t know how it works where you are, but I would up dropping the class and was able to retake it in summer school with the grade counting towards my graduation average.
You may want to look into online resources, there’s a lot of free help out there if you don’t want to pay for tutoring. Look into the Khan Academy, they offer free online training for math, among other subjects, that covers everything from primary school to high school. I’ve never used them, but they’ve been around for ages and have a great reputation. There probably are a variety of YouTube videos for any particular areas or subject matter you’re struggling with.
as someone with adhd who is also shit at math i promise there’s hope. i dont know if i really have any good advice bc honestly i dont know how i managed to graduate but i’d definitely give a huge part of the credit to the alternative school i switched to which was very tailored to neurodivergent people. everyone learns differently, and finding the right teacher and the right style for you is so so important. i wish i could help more but sending you so much good luck op!!! and even if you do have to take some extra classes after you’re supposed to graduate, there’s no shame in that, and you still have your whole life to get into university. admittedly i dont know what your exact situation is but really there’s no time limit on learning ❤️
Khan academy is a life saver for high school math!
I fucking hated math. I’d look at the sheet and want to cry because it was just symbols and numbers and letters and WHAT DOES IT MEAN????? I have dyslexia and dyscalculia, which y’know, “really” helps. ^^And ^^the ^^educational ^^neglect ^^but ^^that’s ^^another ^^thing
I’m 26 now, taking high-school level math courses to get my credits. I still can’t do it in my head, I have to write down the formulas because I can’t remember them for the life of me, multiplication tables remain a mystery. But I’m nailing it. A+ in all my classes. Got a nomination. The only time I don’t get 100% on my tests is when my brain goes “That 1 should be a 7 hurr durr.” and my teacher goes “You gud bro?”
I guess that’s my long way of saying, it’ll probably click one day. Until that day, I’d take some community college courses online over the summer. You can probably find one with adult ed which will give you re-introduction into math. My base was all sorts of screwed up, and starting from scratch was the biggest help in the world.
Dyscalculia is a common comorbid learning disorder that appears with ADHD. I have ADHD and always thought math was just too hard for me.
It sounds like you have dyscalculia. Get evaluated for it.
Make sure you’re showing up to every tutoring session and class with the teacher on time or early, putting in as much effort as you can, and always being prepared and ready to listen and learn when you walk in the door. Trying in a way that’s very visible to a teacher will go a long way. It sounds like you are putting in effort and he probably only emailed and offered to help because he can see that, so you’re already doing something right. Make sure you keep putting in the work, even if it doesn’t seem to be resulting in anything. In situations like this, what the person in power (your teacher) thinks of you matters just as much as the actual work you do.
Also, be honest about what you do and don’t understand and turn in work even if you’re ashamed of it because that’s another way for your teacher to see what you don’t know. And be up front with your teacher (respectfully) about your college grades situation, but don’t push it or beg for a better grade, just explain the situation once or twice. Do this after you’ve already put in some work and shown him you care about this class outside of a grade (even if you don’t). Good luck!
School has changed if 65 is “not bad”. That was an F when I was growing up.
It is really rough what you are going through. It is really frustrating that despite best efforts nothing seems to stick. For whatever reason some subjects are just impossible to learn despite genuine effort and that is OK. My best advice is not to sacrifice your sanity over this. It seems like a big shadow now but in reality it is being cast by a very small rock in your path.
I can guarantee that you will still go to university as planned. You may have to do additional work but it will happen.
No one is interested in stopping a senior from graduating. As long as you show authentic, genuine effort it will be OK.
You may have to shift perspective on how you view grades through, 65 is not a comfortable score. You should always look to achieve the best grade rather than aim for a passing mark.
Math builds on itself so failures in comprehension compound.
You can memorize content but eventually it’ll just be too much.
Figure out how far behind you are by teaching your most current content to your teacher and going backwards until you have clear competency.
Seriously, I have seen it mentioned before in this thread, but you need to work closely with your teacher to get through this. Be open and honest about what grade you need, where you are struggling, and commit to doing whatever the teacher offers to help you pass. Don’t try to do this alone. You need their help right now, while you can still mitigate the damage.
The only way out is through, friend. It is very important that you keep it together for the next month or two. Hang in there.
What level of math is it, and what are your good subjects? Most mathematical principles taught through high school have been discovered/proven in many different ways, so it’s possible that a different explanation (maybe a visual one?) would help you retain more.