![\"Manhattan](\"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2018\/07\/ace-gre-quant-bad-at-math-chelsey-cooley.png\")
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First, let\u2019s get on the same page about what being \u201cbad at math\u201d really means. In my experience, GRE students who say that they\u2019re bad at math tend to fall into these categories: <\/span><\/p>\n Instead of saying that you aren\u2019t a math person, get specific. Which one of those groups describes you? Or, like many of my GRE students, do you fall into more than one of those categories? The more clearly you can describe the challenge you\u2019re facing, the more power you have over it.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s fine to think that math is boring\u2014I think Reading Comprehension is soul-crushingly boring, and I\u2019ve managed to make a career out of teaching the GRE. Learning to enjoy the GRE will make studying more fun, but I\u2019ve also had a lot of successful students who thought of studying for the GRE as a boring but worthwhile job\u2014or even as an annoying obstacle. <\/span><\/p>\n As an adult learning middle-school and high-school math for the GRE, you\u2019re in a strange position. You\u2019re studying things that you once learned in grade-school math class. But you\u2019re learning them from a totally different perspective: you\u2019re smarter, more introspective, and have access to better resources. Getting bad grades in math as a kid says a lot about your middle-school math teacher, a little about your childhood level of patience and study skills, and not much at all about your \u201cmath aptitude.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n The idea that math should come naturally (or not at all!) is one of the nastiest myths in modern education. Math <\/span>isn\u2019t<\/span><\/i> natural, and it <\/span>isn\u2019t<\/span><\/i> intuitive. There\u2019s actually a lot of evidence\u2014which we\u2019ll look at later in this article\u2014that there\u2019s no such thing as a \u201cmath person,\u201d at least when it comes to GRE-level math. <\/span><\/p>\n Most people are more or less equally equipped to learn GRE math. But some people start the GRE process with more math experience, some people start out with more math confidence, and some people start out with both. Those people who seem to \u201cget it\u201d right away? It\u2019s more likely that they\u2019re just a little more familiar with the material than you are. Maybe they use math every day in their work; maybe they had a fantastic middle-school algebra teacher. <\/span><\/p>\n Think about it: when teachers and parents decide that a student is \u201cgood at math,\u201d what do they do? They give them more and harder math to work on, creating a self-perpetuating cycle. Some people end up getting a lot of positive and varied experiences with math, which strengthens their abilities even further. The rest of us fall behind and focus on other topics. <\/span><\/p>\n A lot of us have had negative experiences with bad math teachers, bad grades, or seemingly impossible math problems. More of my students seem to have math anxiety than, say, \u201cvocabulary anxiety\u201d\u2014probably because of the pervasive myth that some people are doomed to suck at math. Hopefully, by examining and rejecting that myth, you\u2019ll find your anxiety being replaced by determination. Keep reading!<\/span><\/p>\n This is the point where you stop saying that you\u2019re \u201cbad at math.\u201d <\/span>The language you use to describe yourself, even in your own head, makes a difference.<\/span><\/a> It\u2019s fine to say that you\u2019re scared of math, or that you dislike math, or that you haven\u2019t taken a math class in fifteen years, or that you absolutely hated your eighth-grade Algebra teacher. Those are facts! \u201cBad at math,\u201d though, is a myth\u2014here\u2019s some evidence to prove that. <\/span><\/p>\n Here\u2019s a chart<\/span><\/a> summarizing the math performance of 15-year-olds around the world in 2012. If high-school math was always intuitive for some of us, and counterintuitive for others, we\u2019d expect to see similar rates of high- and low-performers regardless of location. But the chart makes it clear that some ways of teaching and learning make almost everybody \u201cgood at math,\u201d while other ways work for almost nobody. (So, why not sign up for <\/span>Foundations of GRE Math<\/span><\/a>?) <\/span><\/p>\n There\u2019s a common misconception, although fortunately it\u2019s becoming less common as time goes on, that girls are naturally more likely to be bad at math than boys. <\/span>But there are strong arguments to be made that this gap is completely explained by other factors<\/span><\/a>, and when some of those factors are mitigated\u2014as in single-sex schools\u2014<\/span>the gap begins to disappear<\/span><\/a>. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Twin studies<\/span><\/a> have tried to determine whether mathematical ability is genetic. <\/span>Here\u2019s a study<\/span><\/a> that leans more towards the \u201cbad at math\u201d side than what we\u2019ve looked at so far. On the one hand, it suggests that genetics makes a \u201cmoderate\u201d contribution to math ability at age 10. On the other hand, differences in mathematical ability due to social factors tend to be smaller for elementary school students than for older students\u2014it\u2019s possible that with older students, the pattern would change. <\/span><\/p>\n Finally, <\/span>here\u2019s one of my favorite articles addressing the \u201cbad at math\u201d issue<\/span><\/a>. It contains a great description of <\/span>where <\/span><\/i>the \u201cbad at math\u201d myth comes from, and it\u2019s worth a read just for that. It also introduces the idea that your beliefs about math influence how well you perform. People who believe that math ability can be improved, will improve! People who believe that they\u2019re stuck where they are, won\u2019t. <\/span><\/p>\n So, as you start or continue your GRE Quant studies, strive to convince yourself that you <\/span>can<\/span><\/i> get better at math. That belief alone may be enough to improve your performance. And remember that while you may feel anxious towards math or may dislike math, that won\u2019t stop you from improving your Quant score. Want to know how to get better at Quant when you\u2019re math-phobic? That\u2019s coming up in the next article. ?<\/span><\/p>\n See that \u201cSUBSCRIBE\u201d button in the top right corner? Click on it to receive all our GRE blog updates straight to your inbox!<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n Chelsey Cooley<\/a> First, let\u2019s get on the same page about what being \u201cbad at math\u201d really means. In my experience, GRE students who say that they\u2019re bad at math tend to fall into these categories:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":127,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[474284,921840,421,6,733451,9,733445],"tags":[1362582,1362432,1362583],"yst_prominent_words":[1365323,1365317,1365309,1365318,1365310,1365324,1364913,1365312,1365320,1365311,1365313,1362627,1362701,1365319,1365321,1365315,1365322,1365316,1363831,1365314],"class_list":["post-11799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-studiers","category-gre-prep-2","category-gre-quant-2","category-gre-strategies","category-life-hacks","category-math-gre-strategies","category-study-tips-2","tag-bad-at-math","tag-gre-myths","tag-math-myths"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/127"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11799"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12856,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11799\/revisions\/12856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11799"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
People Who Don\u2019t Think Math is Interesting or Fun<\/b><\/h4>\n
People Who Got Bad Grades in Math as Kids<\/b><\/h4>\n
People to Whom Math Doesn\u2019t Feel Natural or Intuitive<\/b><\/h4>\n
People Who Feel Anxious about Math<\/b><\/h4>\n
Bad at Math: The Evidence<\/b><\/h4>\n
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\n![\"Chelsey](\"https:\/\/cdn2.manhattanprep.com\/gre\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/19\/2015\/11\/chelsey-cooley-150x150.jpg\" "\\"Chelsey")
<\/a>\u00a0is a Manhattan Prep instructor based in Seattle, Washington.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/em><\/i><\/b>Chelsey always followed her heart when it came to her education. Luckily, her heart led her straight to the perfect background for GMAT and GRE teaching: she has undergraduate degrees in mathematics and history, a master\u2019s degree in linguistics, a 790 on the GMAT, and a perfect 170Q\/170V on the GRE.\u00a0<\/em><\/i>Check out Chelsey\u2019s upcoming GRE prep offerings here<\/a>.<\/em><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"