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How to teach a friend math?

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NAKAMONIEL
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How to teach a friend math? [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2010, 19:16
Hi, Please let me know if i am posting in wrong section i will delete immediately. Me and my best friend are preparing for GMAT together, I have math background so it just comes to me naturally and only thing kills me is my silly mistakes or not reading questions entirely, but my friend is having real bad issues, she understand when we are going over chapters and solves problems just fine but every time she faces different looking problem she freaks out/gives up as if she had never faced that method/problem ever before. How do you teach someone? I hope if anyone can give me some pointers.
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Dawgie
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Re: How to teach a friend math? [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2010, 20:21
Teach basics, and run her through your thought process.

Good luck,
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intellijat
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Re: How to teach a friend math? [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2010, 20:45
NAKAMONIEL wrote:
she understand when we are going over chapters and solves problems just fine but every time she faces different looking problem she freaks out/gives up as if she had never faced that method/problem ever before.

hmmm........take the one question she is able to solve and change values/ re phrase/invert the given value and let her solve it....it might help....

example.
Q.in how many ways the letters of the word RAINBOW be arranged?
questions derived from this........
a)how many words begin with R ?
b)how many begin with R and end with W?
c)how many words are there in which N & B are together ?
d)how many words are there in which I & O are never together?
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whiplash2411
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Re: How to teach a friend math? [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2010, 21:29
I think it's more about establishing a good rapport with the subject. If your friend has a lot of trouble, then she should consider enrolling in a course where the teachers are experienced in getting the vital concepts across to people who may have trouble grasping them.
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shaselai
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Re: How to teach a friend math? [#permalink] New post   11 Sep 2010, 22:54
NAKAMONIEL wrote:
Hi, Please let me know if i am posting in wrong section i will delete immediately. Me and my best friend are preparing for GMAT together, I have math background so it just comes to me naturally and only thing kills me is my silly mistakes or not reading questions entirely, but my friend is having real bad issues, she understand when we are going over chapters and solves problems just fine but every time she faces different looking problem she freaks out/gives up as if she had never faced that method/problem ever before. How do you teach someone? I hope if anyone can give me some pointers.



i think you should teach her non-algebra ways first as many problems can be solved by plugin, backsolving etc. this is because if you start writing algebra every problem she might be intimidated and not sure what is going on. it is also dependent on what her goal is in quant as well.
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Re: How to teach a friend math? [#permalink] New post   12 Sep 2010, 03:13
Remember:

The GMAT is not testing your math skills, per se. What the test tries to do is figure out who has decent problem solving skills and who does not.

Approach is key here. You need to teach your friend how to approach problems. Simply rehashing the rules of algebra, geo, etc, will not work for everyone.

The most important thing to remember: always stay calm. Freaking out doesn't ever help anyone
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NAKAMONIEL
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Re: How to teach a friend math? [#permalink] New post   12 Sep 2010, 03:44
wow, all these responses over night, Thank You everyone, I tend to agree with professional GMAT tutoring i suppose, only thing is when I explain something, she catches it soo fast, she solves all variants of that method, only thing is when she tries to take a test where every other question are so different, she cant keep her calm and ends up making wrong assumptions getting wrong answers. How extensive training they give if she enrolls in tutoring?
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Re: How to teach a friend math? [#permalink] New post   12 Sep 2010, 10:15
also depends on her learning style as well. is she good with numbers or variables? if numbers just "click" i would go that - play to her strengths
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Re: How to teach a friend math? [#permalink] New post   12 Sep 2010, 10:50
Have you checkout this link ? gmat-math-book-87417.html

This is good link to start with Math section on GMAT.
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Re: How to teach a friend math? [#permalink]
12 Sep 2010, 10:50

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