Like a sport, math takes practice. With lessons and enough practice most people can learn the rudiments of golf or softball. With some athletic ability, many people can become good amateur golfers, but this will likely take years of playing a few hours almost every week. Math responds to practice too.

In many of my math courses, I believe I was putting in more time on the material than any of the other students; the result was that I got the grades I wanted. More practice led to better results.

Math though is different than many other subjects. It’s common for math classes to rely heavily on the previous year’s math skills. Calculus depends on a fluency with algebra and trigonometry, trigonometry depends on geometry, geometry depends on algebra 1, algebra 1 depends on fluency with fractions and so on. A bad US history teacher probably won’t affect a subsequent class on ancient history, but a bad math teacher can haunt you for a long time. In my experience, this is a common cause for math frustrations and leads to the feeling that one is “bad at math”.

After having taken over two dozen college math courses, I’ve figured out how to get top grades:

(1) Attend every lecture and recitation. The professor is unlikely to ask for something on a test that isn’t mentioned in class.

(2) Sit in the same seat in the front row in the middle, unless it’s a small graduate level course. The professor will notice any puzzlement in your expression and will often elaborate on a point to ensure that you understand.

(3) Don’t use your phone or laptop at all during math classes. It’s really not practical to take note for math by typing, and you will be less tempted to get distracted—-another reason to be in the front row. Studies show that taking handwritten notes promotes better learning.

(3) Take advantage of office hours to get even the slightest lack of understanding addressed. I always appreciated it when the serious students would come by to see me during office hours myself.

(4) Buy the book. Don’t rely on an electronic or web version. A physical book will be around in a few years for reference in a subsequent class. I still have useful math books from half a century ago. In all of my math courses, I’ve only once had an online book that was as good as the printed copy, and even then it was lost to me a few years later. I’ve often had to flip back and forth between different locations in a math book; this is much easier with a physical book.

(5) Do all the assigned homework, even when not required. Math skills take practice.

(6) Do more than the assigned homework. Math takes practice. Doing all the assigned homework should result in B grades on the tests. To get an A, do addition problems from the assigned sections.

(7) To have the highest grades in the class, do every problem in the assigned sections of the textbook. If there are optional texts, buy those too and do every problem in the relevant sections as well. Any problem that gives you trouble is a good thing to discuss during the professor’s office hours. Putting in six hours of extra time on exercises before the midterm and final can often result in top of the class grades. By keeping up with all the lectures and all the homework, an afternoon of studying before an exam will really reenforce your learning.