Mathophobia

Throughout my life I was always in love with math.  I was the student in the class who always got the hang of how to do each math problem quickly and easily, but there was one class that I struggled with: PHYSICS.  

When I got into high school and had to take physics I went in with a positive attitude, but as the time went on, I was never grasping the math concepts in the class.  I would dread walking into that classroom because I hated feeling like I was not smart enough to be there; the math we were learning about was completely different from any math I had learned prior to taking the class.  Everyone else understood the material and would say it was so easy, while I thought it was the hardest class I had ever taken.  But, of course I was not going to tell anyone that, right?  Well, once the time came to start reviewing for a test, I was confused with many topics.  My physics teacher came up to me and asked me how I was feeling about the class.  I had to tell her that I was very overwhelmed and feared even going to the class to try to learn about topics that I would never understand.  She helped me.  I had no hope that I would ever be able to pass the class, but she would always give the help that I needed and she would happily do so.  Even though I struggled through the whole year I had my teacher there to help when I needed it. 

The day of the Regents Exam was the most difficult day for me.  I went in there with the mindset that I could not do it, I was telling myself I was going to fail.  As I was taking the test, I was realizing that sometimes when you put yourself down it just makes everything worse.  So from that point on I took the test to the best of my ability and even though I thought I still failed I told myself that I had tried my best, which, really, that’s all I could do.

I spent a few weeks waiting for my report card to come and to ultimately see a failing grade.  The day the report card came, I hesitated to open it.  Did I really want to get confirmation on the fact that I failed my physics regents? Well, I opened the report card up and looked down at my grade, a 76! Yes, a 76! I passed, I actually passed! I could not believe it!

For many students, mathophobia does not go away. They will always be scared for a test, to learn new topics or to fail.  My physics teacher was my “savior”.  She was the best teacher that I have ever had and for that I appreciate her. 

Maybe mathophobia is different in all students, but there are ways to stop stressing over math and start opening your mind to new topics in math! You will not always fail, I didn’t!