ur classmates will hate me for this 🤫📚

hello zesties!! 🍋

the asians being good at math stereotype has never applied to me 💀❌ math tuition was my CRUTCH so when i suddenly had that removed in jc, i struggled. sis was failing so badly that i dropped to H1 math & even then it was tough for me…

today, i’m getting straight As in all my quantitative mods & majoring in biz analytics 🤩 while obviously not on the lvl of STEM majors, i think it’s still a pretty significant improvement~

after lots of trial & error lemme share with yall the methods that ACTUALLY worked for all my quantitative courses!! works for stats, analytics, & even finance 🤯:

1️⃣ feynman technique

aka teaching the concept to other people, recalling & refining ur own understanding of it as u do so 🤭

i’m sure we’ve all heard of this technique before, but i’m here to attest that it works wonders✨ being able to explain quantitative concepts in simpler terms is the key to remembering how to approach diff types of questions!!

a super underrated benefit of this that no one mentions is that u also get to hear ur FRIENDS’ explanations! esp in uni, where concepts get a lot more complex, ur own brains may not come up with the best explanation. it helps to learn from the way other people interpret things 🤩 i love this technique bc both the yapper & the yappee gets rewarded equally!!

2️⃣ reverse engineering solutions

this technique is my go-to whenever i’m in a time crunch, but it’s SO good on a regular basis too. some ppl are hardcore grinders who must die die finish but giving up 😸 and backward engineering is more time efficient & yields similar, if not better learning outcomes‼️ i quite literally just copy the solution, and write down:

(1) the part(s) i missed out or got wrong in my own solution

(2) the explanation of why mine is wrong & the answer sheet is correct

this works for me bc sometimes i get qns right by virtue of dumb luck, or through overly complicated methods. by forcing myself to explain the difference betw my incomplete ans & the right ans, i’m effectively filling in knowledge gaps, while others are grasping at straws to answer smth clearly beyond their level. it’s the same 10-15mins per qn, u choose how u spend it!!

3️⃣ CROSS-TOPIC UNDERSTANDING

i cannot emphasise how crucial this is especially in uni!! some teachers like to test ur conceptual understanding by mashing up topics that u never even knew were related 😵‍💫 (my data pals… one time i kena asked to use regression tree to estimate propensity score 😰 i was confused for a good 20min)

i don’t have a structure or a method to do this bc a lot of the times, the eureka! moment comes when u least expect it 🫠 what u can do is while revising, if u come across a concept that seems related to another concept in a diff chapter, don’t let go of that thought. make a note of that & think abt how & why they are related!! the most common relation would be that topic 1’s output is an input or prerequisite of topic 2.

tbvh 50% of the time, thinking alone won’t get u far bc classes tend to teach things in silos. u have to google it urself or ask the prof, but i can say 100% it results in a better grasp of the ENTIRE SUBJECT plus you’re more prepared for messed up questions 🤭

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off the top of my head these were the 3 things that worked crazy well for me 👍 ENJOYY & go slay ur math exams!! head here for more of my acad tips~

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