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Thanks for the advice. I go to a top500 HS and all my peers seem to spend half the effort to get higher grades than me, and it seems I need to push myself harde

Thanks for the advice. I go to a top500 HS and all my peers seem to spend half the effort to get higher grades than me, and it seems I need to push myself harder in terms of the difficulty of the mathematics practice I do. Side note: I used to think that the solution was expensive tutoring, but after attending a few tutoring sessions with little benefit, I slowly realized that tutoring (at least in my area) is for the unmotivated student who needs to be pushed by someone else. Just wanted to share my experience and say that it’s almost never the expensive prep classes that make a successful student.

jordansmithnz 8y ago
No worries - I should add that I didn’t attempt problems that were too difficult either, e.g. if you’ve got absolutely no idea where to start then it’s not a valuable use of time. All the best with your study.
CBLT 8y ago
Funny thing about how I became a math major: I skipped precalculus in HS. All my peers that were as bright (or more) in my school were turned off by the year-long deathmarch of pointless bullshit[0] while I was taking more intuitive classes like Calculus and Linear Algebra. We both challenged ourselves, I just took the more fun challenges. [0] https://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-evaluate-sin-pi-5 https://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-evaluate-sin-pi-5
- applecrazy 8y ago
  Wow, this is exactly what I’m thinking. The advanced precalculus course at my school is actually harder than the college level calculus course and has much lower enrollment to the point where the course is being phased out.
saagarjha 8y ago
> I go to a top500 HS and all my peers seem to spend half the effort to get higher grades than me Let me assure you, this probably isn't the case: they've put in a significant effort as well, except they did it much earlier than you. This allows them to coast to schoolwork, since it's all easier versions of things they've done years ago–but they're probably working just as hard as you to get ahead in more advanced material.

jordansmithnz 8y ago

No worries - I should add that I didn’t attempt problems that were too difficult either, e.g. if you’ve got absolutely no idea where to start then it’s not a valuable use of time. All the best with your study.

CBLT 8y ago

Funny thing about how I became a math major: I skipped precalculus in HS. All my peers that were as bright (or more) in my school were turned off by the year-long deathmarch of pointless bullshit[0] while I was taking more intuitive classes like Calculus and Linear Algebra. We both challenged ourselves, I just took the more fun challenges. [0] https://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-evaluate-sin-pi-5 https://socratic.org/questions/how-do-you-evaluate-sin-pi-5

applecrazy 8y ago
Wow, this is exactly what I’m thinking. The advanced precalculus course at my school is actually harder than the college level calculus course and has much lower enrollment to the point where the course is being phased out.

saagarjha 8y ago

> I go to a top500 HS and all my peers seem to spend half the effort to get higher grades than me Let me assure you, this probably isn't the case: they've put in a significant effort as well, except they did it much earlier than you. This allows them to coast to schoolwork, since it's all easier versions of things they've done years ago–but they're probably working just as hard as you to get ahead in more advanced material.