If performing math-related tasks, such as handling money or converting measurements while cooking, makes you feel anxious or afraid, you might be experiencing math anxiety. Although math anxiety isn’t a recognized mental health illness, it can be difficult to deal with. However, self-help tips and support options are available to help you cope.

Here’s what math anxiety is and the steps you can take to overcome it.

What is Math Anxiety?

Math anxiety is a feeling of worry, anxiety, trepidation, and fear experienced by students when they try to solve math problems. It is characterized by mild to severe stress, resulting in psychological disorientation and powerlessness. It can have a long-term effect on mental health, potentially impacting overall wellbeing in certain situations. Math phobics believe they are incapable of completing any math-related task.

Practice Every Day

To reappraise your relationship with a difficult subject, you must work on becoming more familiar with it. When you’re familiar with something, you’re more likely to be comfortable with it. Practicing math can enhance your understanding of mathematical concepts and facilitate mental math in your head.

Daily math practice may seem boring, but there are ways to make it more enjoyable. Gamifying your math practice is one of the best methods to become comfortable with the subject in a stress-free manner! Whether through an online gamification feature or a family board game in your closet, increasing your exposure to math will boost your confidence. You have the option to enroll in an online math course.

Strengthen Your Basics

Practicing your math basics is one of the best ways to boost confidence and lower anxiety. Start by concentrating on main math concepts, like addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Begin with simple problems and gradually progress to more challenging ones.

Take small steps and acknowledge your successes along the way. Practice can also be enjoyable. Utilize math games, flashcards, or everyday situations like shopping to improve your math skills. By mastering the basics, you can build a solid foundation and feel more at ease in mathematical settings.

Use Mixed-Ability Grouping

The mixed-ability grouping method involves grouping peers with varying skill levels.

According to the Education Review Office report on teaching approaches that work, teachers who employed mixed-ability grouping found it to be highly beneficial. Grouping students based on their abilities, such as high with high and low with low, can significantly disadvantage students in lower groups.

Not only do they already struggle with math, but this kind of exclusivity of math education can lead to a negative perception of the subject and limit exposure to the curriculum. Mixed-ability grouping encouraged students with higher math abilities to consider alternate solutions more thoroughly to help those in “bottom” groups to understand.

Join a Coaching Institute

Coaching institutes assist in managing the fast-paced classes of schools. You’ll learn the fundamentals, syllabus, exam patterns, and strategies to improve your exam performance. Most students experience math anxiety due to incompetent subject teachers and unengaging teaching methods.

Additionally, you can seek assistance and guidance from your teachers or personal mentors to overcome your math anxiety. Several studies have shown that creative tutoring has significantly reduced arithmetic anxiety.

Get a Math Tutor

The study involved 46 seven- to nine-year-olds who received 40 to 50 minutes of weekly math tutoring for eight weeks. Students had MRI scans both before and after class. In addition to reducing math anxiety scores, “children who experienced more tutoring-associated decreases in their amygdala activity demonstrated higher reductions in mathematics anxiety.”

So, the math tutor contributed to creating a supportive and engaging learning environment, significantly reducing the students’ anxiety.