Math Builds on Itself.

Why do I mention this? It's easier to spend a little extra time to stay on top of your math and math class then to let yourself fall behind and then try and catch up. It's not that a person cannot catch up, it's just that it is easy to get mentally defeated when your teacher slowly starts to throw in a little Greek(think alpha, beta, delta, and theta) to the classroom conversation and it all seems well.. a little "Greek" to you too!  Try and keep up with the overall concept of what you are doing in class and then get some extra help from your teacher, online, or elsewhere to help you fill in the blanks.

When you are learning math tell yourself to "hold on" to what you are learning.  Take that extra second to imprint it on your memory because math has a way of spiraling back around to similar topics but at a more advanced level. This way you won't have to re-teach yourself what you already knew before. 

On the upside, going back to the fundamentals(as mentioned in a previous blog) and getting the basics down will reap dividends in making all the arithmetic of solving problems easier and have you spending less time on your homework and allowing you more time to focus on the harder test problems or ACT.