Why Math Is A Phobia for Most Of The Students?

For the students, math is a fear for the students all around the world; however, this subject is included from the preliminary levels of education. Even though math becomes optional after a certain level of education, it remains an important part of our daily lives. Today we are going to find out the reason behind the math phobia or math fear or math anxiety and the easiest ways to overcome it.

Reason 1: Lack of Connectivity

Students often fail to connect with mathematical problems which is a reason behind their math anxiety. It cannot be denied that math books come with not so real-life problems where the students cannot understand anything. 

Due to this reason, most of the students view complicated mathematical problems as something monstrous and they find no interest in solving these. 

Reason 2: Negative Attitude and Lack of Confidence

From the very beginning, a perception is often injected in the students that math is a tough subject and students have to put much effort into this subject. It works as a reason behind the math phobia among the students.

It is possible that when this perception is imposed on the students they know nothing about the complexity of math. But, as a result of this negativity, the students have an intense dislike for the subject itself even in simple mathematical problems. 

For example, students often make mistakes in simple sums just because they have the gut feeling that they will make mistakes. Basically, they are not confident about their skills, on the other side, they hold a belief that math is not their forte.  

Reason 3: The Signs and Symbols

After a certain level, mathematical problems start becoming complicated. Students start with addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, and other simpler problems. As the days passed, geometry and algebra become a mandatory part of math. 

The alphabets and symbols in math make the problems look very different and most of the students struggle specifically in these types of problems and they develop a phobia of math in general. 

Reason 4: Low Level of IQ 

Now it’s a fact that math is not a subject that can be learned is not for by hearting – you have to use your brain and common sense. But the fact is not all the students come with the same level of IQ – as a result, some students struggle more in the subjects like math, science yet they perform really well in literature, history, and other subjects. 

Reason 5: Low Level of Attention and Low grades

There is another type of student who is inattentive. They make silly mistakes and lose points. To be specific, they are much prone to make mistakes just because of their inattentiveness. As they lose a huge point in this subject, they believe that they can never secure a good score in math. Thus math becomes a fear for them. 

Reason 6: Less Time

For the slow learners, time is always a problem – in the exam, the students need to spend a specific time on each question. Some students are unable to apply their time management strategy for math as a little trick in a simple question makes the sum too tough for them. As a result, they spend so much time in that and cannot attempt the rest of the question. It makes them afraid of math and they cannot secure a decent score here. 

Reason 7: Bad Teaching

Math teaching can be a reason behind the math phobia among the students – the math teacher needs to understand that the students may not always understand the shortcuts and tricks. As a result, they have to show the descriptive methods, that too in the simpler ways. 

Lack of ease in the classroom, the students cannot grasp the mathematical concepts. Instead of trying to go deeper to understand the methods, they started hating the subject. 

Remedy of Math Anxiety among the Students 

To overcome math phobia, a student needs  

• Repetitive explanation of the concepts in easier words
• Real-life examples to make math a fun exercise
• Descriptive methods at the start, followed by the shortcuts
• Encouragement and patience teaching and tutoring
• Initial practice with no time limit, then slowly timed practice 

All these slowly raise the confidence of the students – but, for a school teacher, it will not be possible always to take care of the individuals in the class. A math tutor can help the students here. Parents too need to encourage the students to reduce their math phobia.