- The IGCSE Math is crucial for tertiary education. Find out how to master and ace your IGCSE Math with these science-based study tips.
The IGCSE Math syllabus builds students’ foundation for mathematical concepts. This prepares students for tertiary mathematics. No matter which science field students wish to specialise in, they will build on their foundation concepts they learned during IGCSEs. This makes learning and mastering the IGCSE Math concepts crucial for future success.
To set yourself up for success, putting in the hard work to master the IGCSE Mathematics concepts will open doors for you to make a choice later.
Students are often taught to study, but never how to study. Especially with Mathematics, it can be counterintuitive to learn as it does not apply to our day-to-day – unlike language subjects, where students are constantly exposed to. Learning and mastering IGCSE math is a skill by itself. Today, we will explore some science-based study tips to master and be good at IGCSE math.
How to study IGCSE math?
Many study tips generalise learning and do not specifically tackle different subjects. Mathematics is one of the toughest subjects to study, as it is counterintuitive to learn and extremely effortful to apply. So here are some math-specific study tips to help students reach their academic goals.
1 – Creating an IGCSE math study routine
Simply block an hour a day to focus on learning mathematics (we will explore how to learn math in the later part). First, plan out a time of day when you have time to do math. The purpose of doing this is to create a habit, and by creating a habit, it takes out the hard work of planning and scheduling study sessions from the equation. When this study block is made default, over time, students will feel less resistant to sitting down at their desk at the same time every day, going through math concepts. It may feel effortful, but as you get into a routine, it becomes easy, and you will autopilot through it.
2 – IGCSE Math study techniques
Now, the essence of this post. How should students’ IGCSE math study sessions look? Here is the game plan.
Progress trackers
Firstly, students should start tracking their learning progress. For all the chapters in IGCSE, students can make a checklist or tracker to record their learning progress of every study session. The tracker should only take 2 to 3 minutes of your study session.
Benefits of Progress Tracking for Learning
Progress tracking is a great way to measure students’ learning growth. With the tracker, students can easily identify strengths and weaknesses, giving them control to improve their learning.
What should you be tracking in your progress tracker, and how should you track?
Quantifying progress with numbers offers a straightforward way to track growth. Hence, we will be using numbers to track our progress.
To do that, consider the testing sandwich method, adopted from sandwich feedback. Students will perform the 3-step method (like a sandwich) to note their learning growth with numbers. Let’s discuss what numbers we are looking at.
Sandwich testing – How it works
The first layer – Pre-test (Bottom Slice)
Start by completing a pre-test at the start of your learning session. You may find that you do not have the answer to everything, and that is okay. The purpose is not only to show what you are unsure of, but to prime your brain for the studying ahead. It also creates curiosity about the topic you are about to study.
Then, record your pre-test score in your tracker.
The second layer – Studying the material (The filling)
We will touch on the different methods to study IGCSE math in the later part.
The third layer – Post-test (Top slice)
Lastly, after you have completed your learning. The last layer of your sandwich is to complete a post-test. Using active recall, students will try to retrieve all the information learned during the study session and take a quiz to review how much they have learned. This can be slightly draining and effortful, but consistently practising information retrieval is what makes information stick in the long term.
Now let’s look at what a study session with these techniques looks like:
Duration: 2 hours
For the first 10 minutes, do a pre-test. Attempt to list all the formulas or laws of the mathematical concept and some of their applications and uses. Score yourself and keep the score in your progress tracker.
Next 70-80 minutes, learn the material.
The last 40-50 minutes, use active learning such as active recall to do a post-test. Students can practise on exam questions, doing their homework, or attempt to teach someone the concepts they have just learned to simulate active recall. Then, record a test score for how you have done and write it in your progress tracker.
Now perform this 2-3 more times for the same chapter over a spaced time to improve memory and information retention.
By the time your exam or IGCSE rolls around, you will have completed 2-3 study sessions for each chapter with a metric score. Students are then able to quickly identify the weaker topics and work on those before the exams.
An example table may look like this:
| First Review | DD/MM | Second review | DD/MM | Third review | DD/MM | |
| Chapter | Pre-test | Post-test | Pre-test | Post-test | Pre-test | Post-test |
| Fractions | 50% | 54% | 60% | 66% | 68% | 78% |
| Geometry | 31% | 50% | 55% | 65% | 68% | 70% |
By the end of all your review sessions, students can see how well they have improved over the period. In addition, weaker topics are easier to identify and tackle with this system.
3 – Learning the materials
Besides learning IGCSE math with passive learning methods like reading their textbooks and reviewing YouTube explanation videos, students can incorporate active learning into these passive learning methods.
Asking questions
For instance, instead of just highlighting your textbooks and going through the formulas blindly. Start by asking questions: where else can the formulas be used? Are there other ways to solve this problem without this formula? Why is the formula useful? Is there something specified about this formula that other methods do not?
By prompting and asking questions, the brain is already engaging with the topic and trying to pique your interest. Additionally, when you actively ask questions, your brain naturally tries to seek out answers by itself.
Identifying common mistakes
One of the best ways to learn is to get feedback and work on it. Since everybody’s mistakes in math are different, it is best to study the mistakes that students make after they complete their exams, assessments and homework. Reviewing mistakes is a feedback loop, also an active learning technique. Students are essentially researching themselves to find out the commonly made mistakes and eventually find the root cause of them through review.
Explaining out loud or teaching someone
We learn best when we can articulate the topic well to someone else. Students can imagine themselves teaching a class and explaining the concepts out loud. The process requires the brain to actively focus, organise and explain the information logically and simply. Through this process, students learn to break down the concepts into simpler trains of thought (improving understanding) and create immediate feedback (identifying knowledge gaps quickly as you find yourself stumbling).
These are active learning techniques students can incorporate during their study sessions to maximise their learning. Coupled with progress tracking and the sandwich testing method, students are sure to be on their way to academic success in the IGCSE math.
What if it still does not work?
Yes, this whole plan sounds elaborate and can be a lot to digest at the beginning. By beginning to make a plan, you are halfway to success. However, it is understandable that students may want to reap the benefits of the said techniques without putting in all the hard work – Tutopiya is here to help.
Tutopiya is an online learning platform that incorporates all these said learning and study techniques into our teaching environment. Planning and scheduling a class with our tutor is simply 1 click away. No need for elaborate planning on your end.
Our in-house platform uses progress trackers to track students’ progress through recording mini test scores and graphing them over time. Our tutors can easily study the trends of the students’ growth and make adjustments to the learning plan accordingly to make sure the students’ learning gaps are closed.
Over at Tutopiya, students focus on showing up to study, and our platform is here to provide the study resources, specialised tutors, planning and tracking of learning growth. A fuss-free and easy way to reach your academic goals with Tutopiya!
Sign up for a free trial session with our tutor and experience learning with Tutopiya today!
