Challenges of Studying Math Under Pressure

Studying math for exams is time-consuming, challenging, and sometimes overwhelming, leading to a heavy reliance on multiple academies for support.

### Challenges and Strategies in Middle School Math Studying
* 😓 Middle school math exams are challenging due to the **wide scope**, and making mistakes is common. It's essential to **listen to explanations** and **avoid repeating mistakes**.
* 📚 Math takes up a **significant portion of study time**, and attending multiple academies for various subjects is **common among students**.
* 😥 Many students feel anxious about keeping up with peers and worry about **falling behind in math**.
* 😭 Some students, even those who were once good at math, may **struggle and give up** on the subject.
* 🎓 Math underachievers are those who have given up on math, and it's important to **maintain interest and motivation** in the subject.
* 🧗 Math is often seen as an **endless staircase** that students must continue to climb.
* 💡 Understanding concepts and solving a variety of problems are **crucial for success** in math exams.
* 💤 The demanding study schedule, along with the tiring and sometimes boring academy classes, can make students feel **exhausted and sleepy**.

Today is the day I go to a private tutoring academy. I'm studying for the exam debut at the academy, but preparing for the exam is very difficult and not fun. It's raining a lot now, and I don't feel like going to the academy today. But I have to go to the academy inevitably if it's for the exam. I didn't take the mid-term exam, so I'm taking the exam this time, and the scope of the exam is very wide. Oh, it's so wide. I sat in seat number 1. The student next to me brought notes and everything. If you stick them here, it's correct. What should I do? Oh, I got so many wrong. It's okay to make mistakes. Just listen to the explanation and don't make mistakes. Right? Oh, I don't like math. It's the only place I don't use my brain. The atmosphere itself is quiet, and I'm afraid the students' concentration will be broken, so I tend to speak quietly. Please organize it.

Let's see, I am currently studying ahead. How far have I gone? I am in the 3rd grade now, the 1st semester of the 3rd grade. I am studying quadratic equations, moving on to quadratic functions, and almost finishing. Now, I have to study for exams. I decided to pause for now and resume after the exams. Math takes up a lot of time. If I were to study again, half of it would be math. If I study for 7 hours, about 1/3 of it is math. If I study for 6 hours, it's about 6 to 7 minutes out of 5. Shall we try it once? So, in 10 minutes, how much progress can I make? How many times six? Currently, I attend three math academies, one science academy, one national academy, and one English academy. In total, I go to six academies. English, science, social studies, Korean, mostly covering almost all subjects.

I feel like everyone is attending multiple academies one by one. I am attending six academies. One for Korean, one for math, one for science, one for drawing, and one for English. I am attending academies for math and English, and Korean like this. If we break it down, there are three academies, one for math, two for Korean, and one for English. Right now, I am attending six academies. Strictly speaking, it's three, but in terms of subjects, it's four. Math, science, English, and essay writing. When I see other friends advancing, some are almost done with the 3rd year of middle school, some are in high school, it makes me anxious, wondering how I should do this, when should I advance so quickly. When I was studying in middle school, other friends were taking mock exams as well.

So, as I speak, I have a little anxiety that if I continue like this, I might end up getting a low score in math when I go to high school. When I was young, I couldn't understand why some students were bad at math. I thought it was so easy, why couldn't they do it? But as I progressed through the grades, I started to empathize more with that sentiment. When I was preparing for the final exam this semester, I was solving problems with my teacher, and suddenly I started crying while solving a problem. It was because a chapter of math that I dislike so much came up in the second semester, and my mental state collapsed. I couldn't understand it on my own, and the anxiety of not being able to keep up with it alone made me think, Am I the only one who can't understand it? Being bad at math doesn't mean you have to give up; there are not only people who give up just because they can't do math.

I think even if you are good at math, your interest may decrease or you may become reluctant to do math well, so there are people who decide to give up on math. When you let go of math at that moment, it becomes difficult to catch up again, so even someone who is good at math can become a math failure. I think it feels like it's talking about me a little. Yes, a math failure, right? Those who have given up on math. I have been giving up a bit since I was in elementary school, so I can sympathize with it a bit. It feels similar. To gain a good understanding of something, I think you have to give up on something. Giving up on math means giving up on going to college. I've heard a lot about this, and so far, the only practical thing I've felt is just money calculation. That's all. So, why do we learn math? Math is like an endless staircase. It's harder to climb stairs than to walk on flat ground, right? No matter how much you learn, there is no end to it.

I think it's like an endless staircase. Even if you work hard, you sometimes get a perfect score. So, math feels like the closest yet most distant subject. Even if you don't want to, you have to study math. Just hearing the word math makes you think it's difficult, and you feel like you won't be able to do it. If your grades don't come out in the top of the class, you might feel excluded and wonder if you're even capable. It's tough. Math, well, math is challenging, but you have to climb up. Math is a definite subject. Even if your grades come out, you can realize, Oh, I got this wrong, without any complaints. Or it can assess your level accurately. It seems like it's an easy subject to evaluate. Hello, I'm a second-year student. I am currently attending an academy. I took a break from the academy for a while, but now I'm going back.

It seems like I've become a student again. Even though I'm doing well in my regular studies at school, I feel the need to start preparing in advance. That's why I started going to an academy again. It feels refreshing. Seriously, it's not the same as being at school where I review what I've already learned. At the academy, it's more about prepping for what's coming up. I solve problems as if I'm reviewing what I've learned before and go over any concepts I don't understand. The academy teaches me difficult concepts and problems, which helps me to challenge myself. Now, I'm focusing on preparing and reviewing. Oh, right. Look at this. Remember we solved this earlier? Here, this is a first-degree inequality. -x + 4y + 15 = 0. Oh, where did I make a mistake? Look at this. I multiplied by 10 here. That's why there's a calculation error. I made a mistake in the calculation here too. I can handle difficult problems, I just need to be a bit more careful with my calculations. And keep in mind what you're trying to find. Keep thinking about it while dealing with linear equations and first-degree functions. I'm preparing for the exam now.

I can do complex things like setting up and all, but now I make a few mistakes in simple calculations. After getting angry, realizing the reality, getting angry, and thinking that I need to solve this, I just solve it. I plan to study at a math study cafe. I have a lot to do today, such as math homework, catching up on science studies, and history studies, so today seems like a very busy day. Since the exam is in a few days, around 3 or 4 o'clock, school ends, then I go to the academy from 7 to 9 o'clock. During the time in between, I am mostly at the study cafe. After the academy ends, I study at the study cafe until around 12 or 1 o'clock, even on weekends. I have to do homework there as well, and the next day I have to do homework again. There's no day off. Right?

Living a lot at the academy can make you tired, sleepy, and find it difficult. Mathematics itself can be challenging. Teachers are teachers, and students are students. In our class, almost half of the students sleep or do other things during break time. The atmosphere is like no one wants to do anything. To be honest, I feel like I'm not paying much attention, mostly sleeping or thinking about something else. The classes are a bit boring and tiring, so I tend to not pay much attention. I feel more sensitive than before. When I was in the first grade, it didn't matter if kids were noisy in class because we didn't take exams. But now, the content of the classes is crucial. If kids are noisy or disrupt the class, I feel a bit angrier than before without realizing it.

Honestly, it's just a fantasy. When I see kids doing that, they go crazy after going to academies. They say let's make students study hard in school classes so they can do well on exams. It seems like they're just saying that, but honestly, if you actually take the test, you'll know. That's just impossible. They just say to study math without private education. I look at it, and I feel like giving up on math. No, absolutely not. First of all, knowing the concepts is important, but applying those concepts in problem-solving seems to be crucial. You need to solve a lot of problems. I think it's necessary to go to an academy because I believe it's impossible to solve all the exam questions just by solving problems from the math textbook. I think I need to go to an academy. Well, I'm currently not attending an academy. Oh, because of that, it took me some time to grasp that one thing on my own. So, it was a bit challenging.

When it comes to quadratic equations, I didn't understand it, so I struggled a bit at that time. I tried to figure it out on my own first, and when I couldn't, I asked the teacher. Even when I honestly asked the teacher, I still didn't understand it well. So now, after listening to that, I think I grasped it by solving some easier problems one by one. When I see difficult problems, there are some that I really have no idea how to solve, and when I face those problems, I feel like I just want to give up. It can be quite frustrating. Originally, I planned to wake up at 6:30 today, but I woke up at 5:00. But after waking up at 5:00, I slept again until 7:00. In conclusion, it's a sad story of oversleeping. So, I am very tired right now.

Today, I heard that we will cover quadratic functions in the second class, but quadratic functions are the most difficult for me in math, so I wonder if I can listen well in today's class. It's not difficult today, it's not difficult. If you can understand the meaning of a quadratic function, what should you be able to do after listening to today's class? You just need to be able to determine whether a given equation is a quadratic function or not. When demand increases, if the price goes up, the supply will also increase, right? When the price goes up, the supply also goes up. However, now, if the price goes down, the supply decreases. From the seller's perspective, they sell when the price goes up. So, what should we do? That's what we discuss in our various classes, and the atmosphere changes little by little every night. Overall, as we go through all the classes, the atmosphere becomes very lively and engaging. Instead of immediately looking at problems we don't understand with the teacher, we first discuss with friends what this is and why it is like this.

Listening to this explanation and presenting together with the teacher during class, the lesson is conducted in that format, which is great. Today, for some reason, it feels like the day is short. Even though I studied hard, it feels like the school ended very quickly. Why is that? Today, I went to a math academy in the afternoon and came back home around 10 o'clock. I think I can sleep well between 11:30 and 12. Yesterday, I had a lot to prepare, so I slept around 2 in the morning. When I checked the exam schedule, it seems like the exam is in 2 to 3 weeks. I just bought a workbook a few weeks before the exam, solved it, solved problems from other schools, and focused on solving many problems. Since I don't particularly like math, if I don't take private lessons, I think my math study volume will decrease significantly. Therefore, my scores might not be that good.

It might be possible and definitely seems helpful.

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EBSDocumentary (EBS 다큐)

Studying for a wide-ranging math exam is challenging and time-consuming.

The student feels pressured to keep up with peers attending multiple academies for various subjects.

The intense focus on math study is causing stress and anxiety about the pace of their academic progress compared to their peers.

Struggling with Math and the Fear of Falling Behind

The fear of falling behind in math as you progress to higher grades is a common experience.

Struggling with math can lead to a decrease in interest and motivation, even for those who were once good at it.

Many students can relate to the feeling of being excluded or not good enough because of poor math grades.

Struggling with simple calculation mistakes while preparing for exams and juggling multiple subjects.

Balancing time between school, the academy, and the study cafe, with no days off.

Feeling the pressure of the intense academic environment and becoming more sensitive to distractions in class.

The Struggle with Math and Quadratic Equations

The pressure to excel in math and perform well on tests leads to frustration and a desire to give up.

Solving a large number of problems is seen as crucial for understanding math concepts.

The difficulty of grasping quadratic equations and the feeling of wanting to give up on challenging problems can be overwhelming for students.

A Student's Hectic Schedule and Concerns About Math Performance

The student's packed schedule and late nights are making the days feel short, impacting their study time and sleep.

The focus on math, including private lessons and problem-solving, is driven by a desire to improve their performance as the exam approaches.

The student is concerned that without private lessons, their math study volume and scores may suffer.