How Do You Eat An Elephant?

It is with great frequency that I have the opportunity to meet struggling Math students who believe they can turn their grades around from an F to an A by attending one lone Math Tutoring session. Moving from an F to an A is an enormous task, but not an impossible one.

I often encounter students who are frustrated, annoyed, and ready to quit their Math class because of their poor grades and performance. To these students, I always ask one question: "How do you eat an elephant?" I never fail to receive a look of confusion followed by attempts to guess the right answer: "You grill it?" "Do you make soup?" or "I don't know" The answer is simple: One bite at a time.

Although I have helped some students go from Fs to As within an hour or two of Math Tutoring Sessions, most students won't experience the same results that fast. But lets talk about a case that I see way too often.

Suppose John has an F in his Math class. By continuing to do what he is currently doing, say he will be able to obtain 57% on his Math tests, quizzes, and homework. Moving from an F to an A is a big challenge and continuous thinking about how difficult of a task it is can cause doubt and stress. Instead, lets focus on moving from an F to a C. Less daunting of a task! Here's a little secret that most students and parents don't realize: if most tests cover less than 10 topics one topic represents 10% or more of the total grade! John is one topic away from a C!

Mastering one topic at a time is much simpler than thinking about moving from an F to an A. Lets focus on small victories. Start by reading definitions, trying to understand them, and continuing to practice one topic at a time until mastery. One does not need to spend hours studying Math to get better results since the same can be accomplished by studying 15 minutes a day. Math Doesn't Have To Be A Problem, so send us your questions and concerns as help is just a text away!