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Struggling with maths is nothing new for students, but for some, this dislike can turn into a powerfully negative emotional reaction, called maths anxiety. The root causes often stem from much earlier in school, and can be hard for students to overcome.
This article will help you understand the causes of maths anxiety, identify it in students, and develop strategies to support students in managing it effectively.
What is maths anxiety?
We all know students who dislike maths, but most of them are able to push through in order to complete their exams. Students with maths anxiety, however, experience intense negative emotional responses when required to do maths under any kind of pressure or scrutiny. This can occur when they are called upon to answer questions in front of their peers or with the looming threat of an upcoming exam.
Maths anxiety is more common than anxiety about other subjects due to maths being a required subject at GCSE, and a requirement at A Level for many university courses. This means that many students who would otherwise drop maths still need to engage with it at a very high level.
The jump in difficulty from GCSE to A Level is very high, and students who may have been confident at GCSE level may begin feeling the pressure.
What causes maths anxiety?
Most students first develop maths anxiety at primary school. Maths is usually taught so that new concepts are built on earlier ones, progressing in complexity. However, this means that if a student struggles with the basics—such as fractions—they will have a poor foundation to build on by the time they are covering more advanced topics, like percentages or ratios.
The majority of students I have worked with who have suffered from maths anxiety have typically been high-achieving students in other subjects, meaning that they have always faced high academic expectations. Teachers may assume these students are good at maths because they excel in other areas, and as a result, may not spend enough time ensuring their fundamental knowledge is present.
Even when teachers recognise these gaps, large class sizes and limited resources can make it difficult to provide the targeted support needed.
For students with maths anxiety, admitting that they don’t know something in front of their peers or their teacher can be incredibly difficult.
These students are aware that they are struggling with concepts that others seem to find easy, and this can be a source of shame. If these students don’t receive enough support, they may begin to hide their feelings from their teachers rather than admit they are struggling. This is a vicious cycle that leaves students struggling with the subject.
Things usually come to a head when the prospect of an exam looms. Students begin to panic when they realise they will need to perform at a very high level, under pressure, in a subject they don’t understand that well. It’s at this stage that many students turn to private tuition for additional support.
7 strategies to deal with maths anxiety
1. Create a safe, non-judgemental environment
When planning to work with a student who has maths anxiety, try to bring as few preconceptions as possible to the lesson about what they should or shouldn’t know. Creating a safe, non-judgemental environment is key to building a positive tutor-student relationship.
2. Ask open questions and check understanding frequently
Make sure to ask questions frequently during the lesson to check the student’s understanding of the material and to ensure they know how to complete a problem from start to finish.
Try to avoid completing intermediate steps for a student, skipping to the end of a problem, or asking binary questions, e.g., “Did that all make sense?”. Instead, try asking questions like “What would be a good first step for this problem?” or “How should we write our final answer?”
3. Reduce exam-related uncertainty
For students preparing for an exam, some of their anxiety can stem from uncertainty about what the exam will involve. Ask students to print out the specification and highlight topics red, yellow, or green based on their confidence levels. This gives them a guideline for what they need to work on, identifies gaps in their knowledge, and provides a clear idea of how much work is left to do.
If they can share a photo of the highlighted specification with you, you can then also use it as a guideline for planning lessons and integrating exam questions into your tutoring sessions.
4. Build familiarity with exam conditions
Encourage students to practise with timed past papers so they know what to expect in the exam. Reviewing their completed papers will also give you a good idea of how they present their work and whether their performance changes under time pressure.
5. Use positive and supportive language
These anxious students are often very sensitive to the type of language used when speaking to them. Phrases like “You should know this”, “You’ve done this before”, or “You’re going to need to do this by yourself in the exam” will be received incredibly poorly. They will have heard all of this before, and it will just make them unwilling to share when they are actually struggling.
6. Revisit the fundamentals to build confidence
From my experience, going back over the fundamentals to check their knowledge can be a powerful confidence boost. Good topics to start with are fractions, algebra, percentages, and ratios.
7. Recognise progress and celebrate success
Finally, don’t forget to praise your students when they do something well! Once you have established a safe space and they trust you, your praise and feedback will mean a lot to them.
Overall, make sure that your lessons are a safe space where students feel comfortable opening up about their concerns and worries, and where they feel like they can improve.
Their maths anxiety won’t be cured in one lesson, but will slowly improve with sustained effort from both you and them. Given enough time and effort, these students will be able to flourish and reach their full potential.
Further Reading:
The Maths Anxiety Trust
National Numeracy: What is maths anxiety?
The Dyscalculia Network: Maths anxiety
The Nuffield Foundation: Understanding mathematics anxiety study
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