I’m currently in honors geometry (I am a freshman). I’m pretty strong in math, but I get really bored in the class and make careless mistakes all the time and forget to turn in homework, that sort of thing. My teacher is great and understands that, but my grade with tests and hw and things like that is around a 96, which isn’t bad.
BUT we also do these assignments in groups where they are usually counted as a test grade and require everyone to work to finish it in the one period allotted. I always do well on the parts I do and check as much of the other work as I can, but it’s impossible to get through all of it.
As a result, I keep getting 60s and 50s as test grades. The groups are random, so I one know what I can do. Right now I have a B+, but I don’t want to screw up my GPA because of group assignments.
Does anyone have any ideas about how I can improve those scores?
If the issue is not having enough time to finish, I would suggest have different members of the group specialize on parts of the activity in which they excel and for all members of the group to work on their sections simultaneously.
(However, this does somewhat defeat the purpose of a group assignment.)
This group thing in math drove my S crazy. He basically had the same issues as OP. In his class, the group assignments were not random. Strong math students were never in the same group.
He was able to break the assignment into parts taking all the difficult parts and having others take more manageable parts. He would then finish his part, help and check the other parts ensuring a good grade.
Math group work is so ludicrous. At one point, my son’s group was asked to vote on the right answer to a problem, and the kids with the winning answer (which was incorrect) got a point, but the other kids (including my son, who actually had the correct answer) didn’t get a point. Seriously. Math by popular vote instead of accuracy. In a different class, kids who earned less than 90% on tests were given the chance to collaboratively work together on the problems they got wrong, and then were given partial credit for them. Some ended up with enough partial credit to earn over 100% on the test. On top of that, if you earned an A the first time around, you weren’t given the chance to earn back any points, so you ended up with a lower average than those who did worse than you on the test. He protested to that teacher and was told not to be uppity, in slightly nicer language. The trouble is, the end of year average absolutely determined whether you progressed to a coveted AP spot in future classes, so it had a serious impact on them. You are not alone in this idiocy, if that makes you feel better.
Do I have advice? Honestly, I would say take it up privately with the teacher, and possibly the math dept head, if the teacher is not receptive. Write out what you want to say first, have a reasoned, unemotional argument about how this material hurts you, and have a proposed solution outlined. Perhaps they can continue to do group work but make it ungraded, or have a chance to “earn back” the points by re-doing the assignment at home alone. Teachers are encouraged these days to give lots of chances to “earn back” points, so maybe you can work that angle.
It seems to me that this is a good part of the problem: " I’m pretty strong in math, but I get really bored in the class and make careless mistakes all the time and forget to turn in homework, that sort of thing. "
If the problem does truly lie with the other people in the group not knowing what they’re doing, then the best you can do is be insistent and firm about your answers if you are absolutely positive everyone else is incorrect. If a single paper is turned in, you could even resort to volunteer being the group’s scribe so you have the ability to change answers that you KNOW are wrong without anyone else noticing. Obviously, these would require that you actually know what you’re doing yourself.
Also, do your homework. Make an itinerary and make sure every item on that list is done before you go to bed. Double check it if necessary. It may or may not help with these group assignments, but one missed homework assignment can be the difference between a 79 and an 80 or an 89 and a 90. You should start checking your answers on your tests until time is up as well; you can catch “careless mistakes” easily that way.
Definitely a lot of the homework aspect is me; however, the homework assignments account for around 6 points a week (since it is in a point system) and the group tests, usually occurring every two weeks or so, are worth 80. I’m loosing 40 or 50 points with each one.