Teaching myself higher level maths?

DDA Donn

Here's the deal, less than a week into fifth year my maths teacher retired, leaving my class (the top honours class) with no teacher. I assume the school is looking for a new one, but I imagine finding a good unemployed maths teacher in september is not going to be an easy job. But I really need it as a subject as it's one of only 4 higher level subject I do

So until we do get a teacher, has anyone any advice on teaching it to myself during the free classes? Normal text books are rarely written with self teaching in mind, so if anyone could recommend any kind of aid in doing it solo, that'd be great.

RedXIV

Chances are you won't go that long without it. I'd dedicate time periods to different sujects, ie, 2 weeks to completely NAIL honours alegbra. If you still have no teacher, move on to another topic. I don't know what maths book you have but when i was doing it, alot of the stuff was well explained. Keep doing as many questions as you can also, the more you do, the better you'll get. Grinds might also be an option

amacachi

Agree with the above, doubt you'll be too long without a teacher. I'd also agree that you should use the time you have now to focus on algebra. Drum it into your head. Do it til you want to hit your head off the table.

eve

Hopefully the school will be able to sort it out quickly. In the meantime I found 'Less Stress, More Success' books along with past papers great. After completing a section in the book test yourself by doing as many questions on that topic as you can find.

blue-army

Why would a teacher retire 1 week back? Why didn't he retire last May?

KnifeWRENCH

Don't worry - I'm sure your school will sort it out fairly quickly. I assume your teacher also had 3rd and 6th year classes - the school won't allow exam years without a teacher for too long!
In the meantime, just look over the basics of algebra in your textbook. Read and re-read each section until you understand what's going on and, if you have exam papers, maybe attempt a few exam questions (the part (a)'s and (b)'s - it will probably be a while before you can tackle the part (c)'s)
If there are things in the book that you really cannot understand make a mental note to ask your new teacher.

MathsManiac

Perhaps just a matter of opinion, but I would have one slight difference to the advice given above, in your circumstances. I agree with the suggestion to concentrate on algebra - you can never get enough of it, but I would steer clear of exam papers for the time being, on the assumption that your problem is a short-term one, and stick with problems in whatever book you choose to work with.

My reason for suggesting this is that teachers will often plan carefully when they use particular exam questions. Knowing that the class hasn't yet worked on the particular question is part of planning the learning sequence effectively. If you're already familiar with a lot of the exam questions, it could upscuttle such plans. Also, exam questions can look a bit scary early on, especially if you're feeling isolated in your learning, and you don't want your confidence undermined when you're already feeling stressed about what has happened!

Obviously, my advice would change if your sitiuation were to drag on for a long time.

Piste

Grinds might be a very very good idea, just an hour a week until you get a teacher.

mardybumbum

What book do use? I found Discovering maths to be far better than Text and Tests. I think the theory is explained a lot better in that book. Allthough, I think the circle and integration were covered better in text and tests.
Id agree with the other posters. Use this time to get a strong base in algebra.
Its the most important area of the leaving cert maths course imo.

K4t

blue-army wrote: »

Why would a teacher retire 1 week back? Why didn't he retire last May?

Because after the novelty of the first week back, you realise just how ****e secondary school is :pac: