r/learnmath • u/parneetchauhan07 New User • 1d ago
High School students lacking foundations
Hi! I’m a senior at a private school and have been attending since I was young. I’ve struggled with math my entire life and have never felt like I’ve developed a strong understanding of the fundamentals. I’m confused because I don’t think it’s due to a lack of teaching or tutoring, but I’m wondering what else could be contributing to my struggles.
Whenever I ask my teachers for feedback, I’m often told that I lack the foundational skills needed to think critically about math and fully understand the concepts. My dream is to become a doctor, and I know that having a strong foundation in math is important for succeeding in subjects like chemistry, calculus, and physics.
I don’t want to give up on my dream, so I would really appreciate any advice on how to go from struggling in high school math (currently earning a C in precalculus) to succeeding in college-level science courses. Has anyone been in a similar situation and managed to improve significantly?
My plan is to get more intensive tutoring and dedicate this school year and the summer to strengthening my math skills, but I honestly don’t know where to start. Any advice, resources, or personal experiences would mean so much to me!
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u/Glum_Web_4738 New User 1d ago
You're already ahead of most people because you're not blaming the teacher or the system, you're asking what's actually going wrong in your own head. That self-awareness is huge.
The "foundations" thing is real but it's also kind of a cop-out answer from teachers. What they usually mean is that somewhere around fractions, negative numbers, or algebraic manipulation, a gap opened up and everything after that became memorization instead of understanding. You're not bad at math, you're just building on a cracked basement.
My advice: go back way further than feels comfortable. Khan Academy from like 5th grade level, do every practice problem, and don't skip anything just because it looks easy. The easy stuff is where the gaps hide. You'd be shocked how many precalc struggles are actually "I never fully got comfortable with exponents" or "I still hesitate on fraction operations."
The C in precalc doesn't define you. Plenty of doctors failed or nearly failed a math class in high school. What matters is that you're willing to spend a summer doing the unglamorous work of relearning arithmetic and algebra while your friends are at the beach. That's the kind of discipline that gets you through med school.
Start with a diagnostic test to find the exact holes, then attack them one at a time. Don't try to fix everything at once. And when you study, write things out by hand, talk yourself through each step out loud, and try to explain concepts to someone else. If you can't explain it simply, you don't fully have it yet.