It Only Takes Two Weeks

I'm just going to get right to the point because I want to keep this video short and then I'll explain my point the point is this if you're in a classroom and there are people in your class and you feel like you are behind those people you feel like there is no way that you could become as good as they are then the point is that it only takes two weeks two weeks you could do it in two weeks and so let me let me explain this because this was actually a comment that someone made in a room I was in many years ago there was this math professor who I didn't really know and he was talking to a student who I didn't really know and the conversation went something like this the student was feeling like you know they were behind and the professor was saying well you know when students feel that way you know I always tell them you know you're really only two weeks behind you might think that you can't catch up to them you might think that you can't be as good as they are you might think that you can't improve your mathematics to get to the level where they are because they're succeeding and maybe you're not but the reality is it only takes two weeks and so I left the room and I thought about it and it didn't make any sense I mean how is this guy going to know that it only takes two weeks right because different people are at different levels so how does this comment make any sense at all you know people say things all the time so why is this true and so here's the rationale when you are in a classroom in college and I'll just use the us as an example but it's probably true in most places in the world if you're in a classroom there's usually some requirement that is needed for you to be there for example in the US when you go to college you take some entrance exam and they place you in a class they say okay you can go into a college algebra okay you're really good at math we can put you in calculus there's a placement test and people always criticize these tests and they criticize the system and that's fine you can criticize it but there exists some sort of placement where people are put into classrooms it doesn't have to be perfect but there is a system and so by some sense everyone in that class is somehow supposed to be equal but we all know that's not true right different people have different abilities different talents different intellects but the system puts us all in this place and so the rationale is that if you work hard enough within two weeks you should be able to catch up and I agree I think it's possible I think it's possible now after years of just reflecting on the statement and thinking it was just bogus I think I think you can do it because think about it everyone is roughly equal if if I think of all the students that I've had in all the classes I've ever taught and I think about some of the worst students like the students that they were just really bad I had something that had really really bad issues with math some that were just not very good and I look at the best students could these students who were really bad actually catch up and you know get the same grade on the test as one of the good students absolutely yes absolutely definitely 100 I know because I would make the tests I know that if they knew X Y and Z they could get a 100 on the test you know and I would go over stuff in class and I would teach everything and explain everything so in theory if they could learn everything I was teaching they could get a 100 every single time they just actually had to learn it which takes a lot of effort and a lot of time and for some people learning those things is actually going to take more time because they're so behind but you could do it in two weeks you could definitely do it in fact it might even take a week the real question is you know how bad do you want it especially if you're in a situation where your math is really bad I mean let's use let's use algebra as an example let's say you're really bad at algebra and you're trying to get better and you're in a class and you're not doing well right there's people in your class that are doing well well maybe they had algebra before in high school maybe they you know they saw it before maybe their parents are Math teachers whatever the only thing you can do in situations like that is just work harder and really just grind you have to grind and grind and grind and you can do it so I just wanted to make this short video to indicate that I think it's possible I really do I think that if you're in a classroom and you're in a bad situation and you're not doing well you can pull yourself out of that situation if you work really hard and you just have to grind one idea is to just do every single homework problem multiple times this is what I did I was obsessed I would do so many math problems and that's all I did you know on weekends too you know people would go to school they do their homework they'd finish it they'd go out with their friends no I didn't do that all right I didn't do that I just stayed home on weekends and studied studied every afternoon after class it's about how bad you want it so it's possible so if you're in a class and you're failing and you're thinking oh can I still pass don't think that way it's not about passing it's about getting a hundred aim to be the best aim to score a perfect score because if you aim high and you miss you're probably still going to do pretty well two weeks right two weeks is all it takes you really can't do it you really can't do it and I thought about this guy's comment for years because I was thinking two weeks it doesn't make sense from the perspective of okay you might have this friend who's in another math club like say you're an algebra and your friend is in calculus three no you're not going to be able to catch up to him in two weeks right but if you're in the same class and you're comparing yourself to another student in your class and that student is getting A's and you're getting F's you can actually Rise From the Ashes and do better and get an A on the next test I've seen people do it they completely change their study habits they go from not taking notes skipping class to going to class every day asking questions doing all the homework going to office hours asking questions multiple times don't be afraid to be annoying a lot of students um I feel like they're lost in class and they're scared to ask questions I used to be that way don't be like me right it's funny I'm telling you not to be like I was but it's good advice because that's something that I should have done do I have regrets no because I don't believe in regrets just regret to accomplish nothing all you can do is change the present and hope that it affects your future because that's all we have control over is the present so it's possible it's possible pick yourself up and work harder you could do it I mean you could do it it's mathematics and it applies to other subjects as well but I have more experience with math so I'm speaking only here of mathematics in mathematics you know if you're in if you're in an algebra class or a trig class and let's say you're using this book here fundamentals of algebra and trig by swachowski great book you know pick up the book do all the problems from the section do all the homework go over all of your notes you're gonna get better you're gonna get better it's possible it just takes extra work and it's about how bad do you want it it really comes down to that so you should know that deep down inside you can do it it's just a matter of do you want to do it a lot of times I think that people think they can't do it and I believe they can it's just do they really want to do you really want to spend that much time doing math I mean there's other things in life that are important too right but if it matters to you you can make the effort and you can succeed and that's all I wanted to say in this video I believe in the two-week rule two weeks in two weeks you can catch up to a classmate if you rock it I think that mathematician who said that I remember his name but I won't mention it and I talked to him once briefly and that's no comment I didn't really know him so but he was right I believe what he said he was a smart man and he was right if you want to learn mathematics I do have courses maths sorcerer.com please use the links on my website if you decide to buy my courses they're actually on the udemy site if you're not a subscriber and you want to subscribe consider hitting the Subscribe button today and it's possible it's possible it really is I want to emphasize that I believe that you can do it if you are failing your class I just from teaching so many years it took me a long time to believe this guy I was like two weeks but he was talking about people in the same class so if you're in the same class with someone and you're comparing yourself and you want to get the grades they're getting I really think it's possible to catch up in two weeks I think that's more than enough time a week maybe two weeks I think that's a lot more realistic to catch up to them and do as well as they're doing I think it's possible anyways until next time good luck take care and keep doing mathematics

Channel: The Math Sorcerer

Views: 1,978,373

Keywords: two weeks, only two weeks, mathematics, catching up

Id: sZ60bY2pJfo

Length: 9min 39sec (579 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 16 2024