How To Pass Ece Board Exam?

[Long blog-type question] Is there any way I could possibly pass Precalculus?

• Alright. I'm taking precalculus for the fourth time in college. Yeah, I'm stupid. I mean, I'm really stupid. So, fourth time taking the class, doing somewhat well on the homework quizzes because I have the Internet to refer to as I'm working, but getting destroyed by the exams as usual. Great. 45 on the first exam, 50 on the second exam. Let me remind you that this is, yes, my fourth time taking this class. I'll also throw in the fact that I cheated on both of these exams. I had a solid notecard's worth of information hidden under my paper during both entire exams, not to mention I used my phone from time to time. Despite this, I still managed to fail both exams, and hard. I absolutely loathe this class and math in general. The main reason I'm even taking it is because I'm trying to prove to myself that I *can* do it. (Cheating to pass the exams is hardly something to be proud of, but I'm no ethicist. Don't judge me!) I try and try to understand the content, but none of it sticks. I have spent hours of days studying before the exams, but it's like none of the questions are alike. Each one has some stupid method to it, and it's never the one I attempt to apply. The ones given in class are nothing like the ones given on the exam. I hate abstract bull****. I hate variables. I hate pretty much everything about this stuff. It really pains me to see my time going to waste. Semesters have gone by, and I could have been out of Multivariable Calc by now (if I only had a brain). I'd go to the professor's office hours, but I'm taking seven classes right now, two of which coincide with all of her office hours. That's how it's been in the past, too. I just don't have time to go. So, the first exam was kind of just me being stupid (as usual). I really blanked out on things I should have known and thought were obvious afterwards. Then again, I doubt I'd get any of the questions correct if I were given the test again. The second test just blew me away. I would not have answered a single question correctly had I not cheated. Logarithms are the most evasive and cryptic things I've ever seen. It's like no matter what I do, I can't apply the "e" or "ln" or "log" or whatever the proper way, even though I'm often practicing EXACTLY what was shown on the board, but with different numbers. I can't even begin to imagine how god-awfully terrible any higher math classes are. For some reason, I've managed to grasp stuff like Statistics extremely well. But something about this stuff most people refer to as "rudimentary," "common sense" or often times a prerequisite for such classes as Stats is just unimaginably difficult for me to remember. So now I'm onto Trigonometry (again), and I'm still remembering nothing, even after reading sections of the book over and over. These words are too alike. A lot of my memory depends on word length for some reason, so when representations like "sin," "cos," "tan," "csc," "cot," and the other one I can't even remember right now (case-in-point), each with the same amount of letters, is not doing my memory many favors. It doesn't matter what they represent: that's never what I remember. Not to mention I have to remember what these six things do (in regard to triangles, circles and several other bull**** things), AND the other myriad things required for just this third exam, including some kind of degrees, minutes and seconds; putting the right three-letter thingy to the right problem (great, a one-in-six chance of getting it right), each with multiple steps and facets that are incredibly easy to confuse; the graphs of all of these various functions and how to identify each individual one; and so many other things I still can't recall right now, PLUS the content from the first and second exams that I've struggled to understand for years... I just can't do it. It's too much. Too ****ing much. So, here's kind of a summary of what's happening. My first exam (45) counts for 10% of the grade. My second exam (50) counts for 20% of the grade. The third exam counts for 30%, the cumulative (oh, joy) final is 25%, and the remaining 15% is the homework quizzes, on which I've done fairly well. Basically, I need As on both the third exam and the final to get a solid C (or higher) overall. What is going to help me with this? I'm thinking of Khan Academy, but I'm afraid that something in Salman's videos isn't going to be covered, and, with my luck, that'll be the meat of both the third exam and the final. We hardly learn from the book, and my professors' lectures have never covered the material well at all (I have to use random sources from the Internet to get my homework done because the examples in class are the simplest

• Answer:

  No one is actually "bad" at math. The school system's lack of a proper repetition system is the root cause of math anxiety for a lot of people. Math is cumulative and requires a properly maintained repetition system to build off of. A spaced repetition system is the most effective way to deal with the forgetting curve in math. The people who are "good" at math just have more repetition of math. The "it's ok to forget what you have learned" mentality does not work with math and foreign languages. wikipedia: forgetting curve google "Algebra Acrostic Dictionary" and "Geometry Acrostic Dictionary" Acrostic mnemonics provides a better encoding and retrieval process for memory.