82% Students Across Grade 7-10 Are Fearful Of Math: Cuemath survey

Cuemath survey explored the key factors spread across perception, performance and confidence for mathematics.

Grade 7 students are in the warm-up phase for high school. However, the fear of math continues as they progress to higher classes. The correlation between perception about Math and performance becomes more significant in higher grades. In grade 7, one in seven students have negative perceptions about Math concepts, and needing additional intervention, whereas this number increases to one in four in grade 10. With a sample size of 1,600 non-Cuemath students, the survey showed a rising disconnect between students and their learning of mathematics.

There are several reasons for the disconnect, the core being the redundancy of conventional teaching. Coupled with it, homeschooling during the pandemic has added to student woes, resulting in loss of interest and fear of mathematics at a critical juncture of their lives.

Enumerated below are some of the key highlights from the survey report

Math proficiency decreases in higher classes

 Nearly 6 out of 10 of Grade 7 students seem to be proficient in basic math concepts: Numbers, Applied Math, Algebra, Geometry and Mensuration. But this drops down to above a third of all students in Grade 8. Class 7 students are most inclined and enthusiastic towards Math but as they move towards higher classes, their motivation levels drop.  Board exams add to the pressure and fear of math, possibly making 10th graders perform worse than 9th graders by 6 percentage points. The confidence levels of students in Grade 10 drop by 11 per cent compared to grade 7. 

Fear for Math continues

82 per cent of the students surveyed across Grade 7-10 are fearful of   Math. Only 2 in 10 students were confident about their math ability; this is supported by the drop in persistence to solve math problems by nearly 14 percentage points (From 23 per cent in grade 7 to 9 per cent in grade 10). This Could be because of concepts getting more challenging and rudimentary way of teaching.

Grade 9 and Grade 10 students have low self-belief about math ability

Grade 7-9 students find Algebra and Mensuration difficult, whereas geometry adds to their worries in Grade 10. As for grade 8 students, it’s applied math (37.10 per cent) that keeps them awake at night.

Surprisingly, it is seen that grade 7-8 find the magic in numbers attractive, fun (getting 3 out of 4 questions correct) and as they move to senior classes, this translates into their fondness for Statistics and applied math (getting 3 out of 4 questions correct)

Boys vs Girls

Boys outperform girls across grades. But it is most pronounced from Grade 8 to 10.  In grades 7 and 8, girls seem to be more confident, this deteriorates as they move to higher grades (9 and 10).  In the case of boys their confidence is consistent, across all grades, despite their performance.

The survey was conducted by Cuemath in the month of June 2021 with a sample size of 1600 students.