I need help on getting better math grades

practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice practice

do as many problems as you can, use other books "for dummies" or "demystified" to help streamline the info so you understand it better, and then do the practice problems from the book.

practice problems are the key to good / great grades -- the more you do, the better you will get, and the better you will do on exams.

 

Don't be afraid to go to your instructor for additional help, or even seek out a tutor (many schools have them for 'free'). Sometimes some one on one time and/or a different perspective can mean the world for understanding.

A few pointed questions:

How much time are you spending outside of class doing homework?
What part of your grade is suffering? (weekly quizes, periodic exams, daily homework?)
Is this a high school or college course?

 

I'm not a huge fan of those "for dummies" books. I picked up Trig for dummies, and I learned way more by simply watching videos on Khanacademy.com. I also have the Differential Equations "for dummies" book and it's poor compared to my actual textbook, or the ocw.mit.edu notes/videos/lectures.

Khanacademy.com should be your best friend when it comes to understanding the topics. Aside from that, good grades really just come from practice. I'm not "smart" by any means, and just over a year ago I couldn't even solve a quadratic equation! By utilizing physicsforums homework help section, mit's lecture videos, khanacademy, my textbooks, and some other sources I have managed a 4.0 so far up to Calculus II (After 10 years out of highschool). It just takes time + practice.

 

Hey austim14 and welcome to the forums.

One tip I recommend is to visit different sections of these forums. Visit the homework forums not only for your own problems, but also to read other problems people are having. Absorb that knowledge.

Also roam around in the non-homework forums. People will talk about a lot of different topics and sometimes that one thread will just open a lot of understanding.