forum.virtualchallengemeets.com

how are your sessions run?
take a test and go through it 1 --> 60?
focus on specific, difficult problems?
talk about topics in general?

i have the same problem with math, especially when working with a team. But if i was to attempt to offer any advice, i might say that first off, find the types of problems often encountered on the test and go over those. Then have people take the test without time limits in order to see what they can do. Then have them start exploring some of those problems that they didn't know and try working quicker on the ones they do know. But yet again, i'm not totally sure of this plan, especially since this is my first year to do UIL mathematics.

we try to get ppl to ask us specific questions, but that usually doesn't work

so...we divide into small groups of like 1 leader (upperclassman=10th grader), and 2 students (lower classman=9th grader) than force them to go through the problems and show us how to do the problems...

but since it is a test with calculator, it is hard just to convince them to learn 'special' concepts that lead to clever solutions (they just type it into their calculator)

Our math coach had no degree. She was not certified to teach, yet Azle paid her to teach. She continued to host practices which at first consisted of me explaining the easy-medium problems that even the 9th and 10th graders knew. Not long after, she stopped allowing me to speak and had the rest the team teach her. Therefore, we spent most of our time reviewing material that we were already proficient at.

If I ran any of the practices, I would want everybody to take the tests at home since it wastes practice time. Though, I understand if a team isn't motivated enough to put in more than 3 hours a week, or whatever. Then, everybody would bring their graded tests and learn everything on the test that was within their reach.

The one time that I practiced UIL Mathematics the most effectively was in the summer between 9th grade and 10th grade, nearly two years ago, now.

My practice method was this...get a test ready, printed out and everything. My choice was 04-05 UIL A. Then, get out a notepad and a few pencils. Open the test, no time limit or anything like that, and write out verbose explanations outlining how to do every single problem on the test. When you run into a problem you don't know how to solve, ask somebody to help you. After they help you with the problem, write down a detailed procedure of how to solve the question.

You get to have a pretty nice grasp on how to solve a problem when you've written a paragraph or two about it, and with familiarity comes speed. The only problems with this method would be that it takes a pretty long time to do (that's why I used the summer), and you need to have somebody around who can help with the ones you can't solve (this wasn't a problem for me, because the summer between 9th and 10th for me was just before my brother Christopher went off to Caltech, so asking for help was an issue of walking into his room and bugging him =D).

I'm planning on doing this again for Spring Break as a preparation for TMSCA State, as I'm not improving nearly as much as I ought to be in Mathematics. I'll probably start posting lots of questions here, then. =D

Of course, this method won't work too well with a team of people who have any significant lack of free time or dedication to the cause. Still, at least in my case, it helped very much.

I usually just write up solutions for every problem and then come back to them and find shortcuts. After that, people just usually ask me specific questions.

I kinda thought you were Christopher Watson's brother... from your signature "picture." And because you speak of Lubbock High. And, maybe because I was vaguely aware of a Nathan Watson running around.