Why is maths difficult?

I am going to say a word and when I say that word, I want you to notice the thoughts or feelings you have when you hear it.

The word is, ‘maths’.

What did you think about?

I have asked a ton of people this question and some people respond with; fun, explains everything, enjoyable, powerful, enlightening.

Many respond with words like; anxious, annoying, frustrating, depressed, fear and scared.

When it comes to maths, we all have particular emotions that we associate with it.

When I was young and at school, I think I would have responded with boring, confusing and not bothered!

How can the same subject conjure up such extreme emotions from one person to the next?

Maths is consistent and exact, so if the subject itself is consistent, then what can it be?

Most people think the difference is them, their brain. They think maths is difficult and confusing because they are not clever enough, they must be stupid, their brain doesn’t work, it must be them.

But I’m here to tell you the truth. The reason you or your child struggles with maths isn’t because of your brain, it is the way you or your child has been taught.

At GradeBusters we believe; “Everyone can do maths; it is the way you are taught.”

Let me explain;

When I was about eight years old, my brother taught me a card trick. The trick involved someone choosing a card without the magician seeing it, putting the card back into the packet, then there was lots of shuffling of the cards and by the end of the trick I, the magician was magically able to reveal the card the onlooker had chosen at the start of the trick.

Fast forward to when I’m an adult, friends had come around for a dinner party. My son decided he wanted to perform a magic card trick to our guests. I was surprised by this because I didn’t even know he had been learning card tricks. As a parent, you start to feel nervous, thinking this could go horribly wrong. He didn’t look that confident, so I started to prepare for the worst. Finally, my son casually revealed the correct card, everyone seemed mesmerised and astonished. They started to ask him, ‘How did you do it?’ Of course, like every true magician he responded by saying, ‘A magician never reveals his magic tricks!’

Suddenly, I remembered when I had been taught a card trick. My son’s trick was delivered in a completely different way to the one I had been taught when I was a child. However, there was one similarity, both card tricks ended with the reveal of the card the onlooker had chosen.

As everyone started to postulate how he had managed to perform such a successful trick, I wondered if I applied the same underlying principle, I had been taught as a child to the trick my son had delivered, could I pull it off? So, I said, ‘I think I know how he did it. Can I do the same trick and see if I have worked it out?’ Naturally, everyone started to think I was just messing around. I took the pack of cards and followed the same process my son had shown everyone, but applying that one principle I already knew. To everyone’s amazement, especially my husband, I performed it perfectly. I remember everyone saying, ‘How on earth did you do that, how did you work that out?’

Suddenly my ego went into full swing and I felt a real sense of significance and superior intelligence, as I basked in my glory. Unfortunately, I took the limelight from my son, which was not my intention at all, but that is another story.

I knew I was no more clever or intelligent than anyone else in that room, I just knew one fundamental principle that I had been taught at eight years old. I simply understood something that no-one else in that room knew, except my son.

This is the same with maths. This is why there are people who get it and people who don’t. It isn’t anything to do with whether they are more intelligent or not, it is understanding ten principles. Once you understand these ten principles, you can apply them to all maths. The reason why some people seem good at maths is because they have a good working memory. They are able to remember the correct trick and when to use it. Those who are exceptional at maths have such a high cognitive ability that they have worked out the principles themselves, which isn’t very many of us, probably 0.04% of the population!

This is why maths can often feel mysterious or confusing to many people who don’t understand the ten principles. The problem is, that the school maths curriculum doesn’t teach the principles and the majority of teachers don’t even know what they are, let alone understand them.

This experience with the magic trick that I had, is what GradeBusters maths is like. We teach you the ten principles and when you understand them, you become extremely clever because you can apply the understanding of the principles to a myriad of maths questions.

If you want to find out more about GradeBusters maths for yourself or for your child go to visit our course pages for more information. You won’t be disappointed.