Lots of people always complain about science and math classes for reasons such as the difficulty or the amount of work or the type of analytical thinking involved. Here’s a good method to get through them.
Become interested in science. There is no better way to learn science than by coming to class with a natural curiosity. It also helps to understand the context and background of the topic you’re learning, such as who were the pioneers, what were their contributions, what were the issues in the field at that time. You can get a better sense of context by immersing yourself in scientific material. One of my favorite ways to do this is to watch documentaries and video explanations. They are fare more engaging than a written text and the visual images are immensely helpful. This is actually how I got myself interested in science.
Another tip is to do your homework. This is a must, unless you are a genius. There is no better way to understand the material than by doing homework problems. Write out the questions and show your work neatly. You will find that your homeworks become the only study material you need for your exams, depending on your teacher. But from my experience this is often the case.
Finally, use khanacademy.org. This is perhaps one of the best tools ever created. Bless this man who made available a quality education to every child and adult in the world with an internet connection. He is great at explaining things and succinct enough to hold your attention. There is a link to his website on my ‘links’ page. If you do not take my word for it, listen to an incredible story by this fine gentleman. Just one of the thousands of lives the KhanAcademy has touched:
VIDEO: Thank you Khan Academy!
**Updates
A friend, Todd Gaugler, who is a triple major in Pure Math, Computer Science, and Economics at Queens College, kindly contributed his perspective on handling higher-level math courses: “Half of the battle with higher-end math courses is not getting intimidated by professors that work fast and introduce you to a lot of new material/notation quickly.”
