In elementary the simple rubric math was relatively easy for me. I thought that during my last year in elementary, math would be no problem for me. Well, that was not the case. Sixth grade came and math became my worst nightmare. Once I passed sixth grade, seventh was no better and let’s not mention eight grade. In my freshman year in high school I finally was tired of barley passing math so I made it my goal to pass algebra 1 with an A. I first began to check out math books for dummies at my local library, and was more than determined to learn this.
My hard work towards the end of my freshman year paid off and I ended the year with a grade higher than a 95. My teacher was impress with my efforts that he suggested that I double up on math and graduate with 6 math credits instead of the required four or five if you did algebra 1 in middle school. I took on the challenge in seeing why not further improve my math skills so that I wouldn’t struggle anymore. Well, once again, I brought to sudden stop. A huge wall called geometry.
When given my first assignment on my first day in the class, I wanted to just get up and go and convince counselor to put me in at least a regular geometry class or in a simpler math class. But I knew that if I was able to beat algebra 1 I can most definitely beat geometry. I play tennis and in taking this class I had more clutch times than being 40-all and whoever wins the point wins the game situations. There were times where I was this close to either failing or giving up, but I went to every tutoring session before practice and even did some books, I even went back to my algebra 1 teacher and received some help from them.
If there was Saturday tutoring you bet I was there. I was able to pass the class but not with the grade I wanted-none the less I was done with that class. Then came junior year and I was given the opportunity to take AP statistics. The only junior in this class and besides the intimidation I was more nervous of the work. My first college math course and the pressure was sure on. Keep in mind when I was taking this class I still had to deal with pre-Cal and its complexities. But once again I received help from whoever was willing to help me. My school life at this point evolved around the tennis courts and the math department.
Statistics proved to be the hardest thing I have ever done in my school career, even to this day taking AP calculus I believe this is a much easier class than stats. The formulas for this branch of math was like trying to decipher a foreign language in text. Throughout the year it was complete chaos. I had everything that I think helped me from: books from the library, most of the math department, and apps on my phone, I even had flash cards. I would stay up almost until two every night either studying for a stats exam or studying for pre-cal.
My senior year came and I was glad that I had done all the math courses that were offered, and so all I needed to focus on was AP Calculus. In the aftermath of the previous year’s I realized that if I put my mind and effort in something I can do it. Math was a subject that I thought was going to always bring me down. But since my love for sports is greater I knew I had work I had to do, and now I actually love math. When given the chance I watch math video on YouTube. I have a favorite YouTuber names Vsause. His videos contain a mixture of science, math, and physiology.
One particular video that is my favorite is when he is describing how humans have sent out many messages out in space that gives out a descriptions of who and what we are and things that are popular in our society at the time; as well as the coordinates to our location. It’s so interesting how math has a major part in life and in everything we do. When in geometry class I thought to myself “How is this going to help me in the future? ” But later on, when reading the history of math, geometry is actually useful. We use if for many things like architectural designing, and in computer imaging.