The Importance of Confidence in Mathematics – and How to Attain This

When learning mathematics, concepts often seem strange or intimidating to students. When this happens, many students proceed tentatively.

They sometimes give up when they were proceeding in the right direction; they just lacked the confidence to keep going.

They sometimes give up when they get the wrong answer, assuming that they solved the problem incorrectly, when all they did was make a simple mistake; they just lacked the confidence that the solution was correct to check it carefully. When you doubt your solution, you wonder if it’s worthwhile to check it over.

A student who lacks confidence in math is more likely to skip homework problems that seem too hard or rely on too much help from others. A more confident student will at least attempt the problems and is more likely to participate in the solution when receiving help. This small measure of confidence makes a world of difference.

The top students tend to be much more confident. They carry out their solutions fully because they’re sure they’re solving the problems correctly. Instead of doubting their solutions, when they get the wrong answer, they check their solutions carefully. Confidence plays a significant role.

The confident student is much more likely to find a solution to a challenging problem, whereas a tentative students is much more likely to give up easily.

Overconfidence can also be a problem. The overconfident student may not practice or study as much as necessary, or might not put enough thought and care into a solution.

How can students develop confidence in math?

It’s not easy for everyone to show confidence; some students have more trouble with this than others. But everyone can become confident.

It’s not just a matter of saying you’re confident. There’s much more to it than this.

Suppose you don’t know a word of Russian and suddenly wander down the streets of Moscow telling yourself you’re confident you can easily pick up on the language. Not gonna happen. (Maybe someone will speak English, but you’re not going to instantly pick up Russian no matter how confident you are.)

Students can become confident through experience.

The student who hasn’t practiced or studied enough definitely lacks confidence.

The top students know they have practiced plenty and studied hard, so they show confidence.

Then there are good students who worked and studied hard, but don’t show confidence; instead, they show much anxiety and make nervous mistakes. These students didn’t first convince themselves that because they’ve worked and studied so hard, they do know how to solve the problems. They had every reason to be confident. Maybe they have done poorly on tests in the past, and this prevented them from showing the needed confidence.

There is a way for students to overcome math exam anxiety: One step at a time. Try to solve one small problem by yourself. Then work your way up to exam conditions. Start with self-check exercises, try practice quizzes, make a practice exam. Put yourself in positions where you experience exam anxiety, where it starts out easy and becomes progressively more challenging. It takes a will to find the way.

Teachers or parents can help students with this through practice problems, practice quizzes, and practice tests. The idea is not to give a preview of the actual problems, but to recreate similar exam conditions in order to help students overcome their exam anxiety. After every practice test or actual test, spend time with the student discussing the student’s approach.

Chris McMullen, author of the Improve Your Math Fluency Series

Hem