Do you encounter challenges in solving STEM problems? What is your approach towards solving Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics questions and how successful have you been? Here are some effective tips for solving the STEM problems.
Learn to understand the concept behind questions
How well do you understand the problems assigned to you? Do you just read the questions and attempt to solve them or you try to understand the concept? Solving a problem without understanding it is like speaking a language you don’t understand. Before you attempt any problem, first try to identify the concept and understand it. Doing this helps you to easily solve any problem no matter how difficult they are.
Work on your own with some supervision
Instead of allowing your friends or professor to show you how to solve a problem in its entirety, do it yourself while they supervise. Through this, they are able to correct you stage by stage as you work. Afterward, they can help you to understand the stages you got stuck. This empowers you to easily remember the process to solve previous problems.
Learn through your home assignments
Homework is the best way to work independently without the influence of any person. You work at your own pace; hence, you take your time to go through the learning process. You can learn through homework by:
- Using it as a test of the concept you studied in class. When doing your home assignment, make it presentable and easy to read. Clarity of answers is important when solving STEM questions.
- It is best to start your homework as soon as possible when you get home. It gives you enough time to work on it.
- When calculating for an answer, make sure you enter the right figures and also use the appropriate computing program and operations.
- You can always use different textbooks and compare each book’s approach to a concept or topic. For example, you can look for similar problems, and check the approach each textbook used in solving them.
- Work on problems every day, and as many times as possible, especially with concepts you find difficult to understand or remember.
- When solving homework, take notes of problems you found difficult to solve. You can ask for help from your professor or classmates when you go to class, the next day.
- In STEM, formulas and definitions are very important. Memorize these formulas as you work on your homework.
How to prepare for class
- Before going to class, make sure you have done all your assignments or necessary page readings. Be cognizant of the topic for the day.
- You can go ahead to solve some problems related to the topics to be taught on the day. If possible, come up with your own ideas in solving problems. Being innovative makes answering questions easier.
Use practice tests as a study tool
- Aside from doing homework, you can sometimes do practice tests in a classroom environment. Mostly, the various textbooks come with test questions after every chapter. Use these tests to access your strength on the topic you learned. Please, never look at the answers until you’ve completed solving the problems.
- After solving these questions, check if the answers you provided are correct or wrong. You can then find out why you got those questions wrong and work towards improving yourself.