How to Study for a Math Test and Absolutely Crush It
Studying for a math test can feel overwhelming. There’s just so much material to learn in such a short time!
As an experienced teacher, I’ve helped many students build their math skills and develop the confidence needed to succeed on math tests.
Over the years, I’ve seen what works and what doesn’t.
My goal here is to share my top tips so that you can walk into your next math test feeling confident, well-prepared, and ready to absolutely crush it!
If you are looking for good strategies for how to study for a math test, you are in the right place!
Your First Step: Lay the Foundation
Before you dive into practicing solving math problems for your next test, it’s important to set yourself up for success.
Having a strong foundation will make studying easier, boost your confidence, and make it easier to showcase your problem-solving skills on your next test.
Understand the Subject Matter
Math success starts with mastering the important concepts when you first learn them. Developing a strong grasp of the basic math concepts you learn will help you form a deeper understanding of advanced material.
This means that studying will feel much easier when it comes time for you to prepare for your math test.
It is a good idea to spend some of your class time on reviewing foundational topics before moving to more complex ones. If you find yourself struggling, revisit your math homework to identify your weak points.
One of the main reasons students find math so hard is that they have major gaps in their understanding of basic foundations. This makes it hard to apply specific concepts in more challenging scenarios that often show up on tests.
The most important tip I can share here is that understanding the subject matter is not just about memorization. You should feel confident applying specific concepts from your classes. T
his means being able to solve real-world math problems and recognizing patterns across different difficulty levels.
Building Good Study Habits
In my teaching experience, many students are not even aware that they have bad study habits. So many students think that just going to class and showing up for the test is enough to score good grades.
But the truth is that good study habits have to be developed and practiced over time. We’ll get into this in more detail a bit later on.
The best thing you can do is form a consistent study schedule that allows for regular practice. The trick is getting into this routine before the big test.
I always say that if you’ve left it to the last week, that’s too late to start studying. You never want to be surprised by what you don’t know the week of the big test.
Avoid last-minute cramming, and spread out your study sessions over time. This provides you with more time to absorb as much material as you can in the time that you have before the test.
Develop a Positive Math Mindset
Math anxiety is a common issue that many students face. I spent a large portion of my math teaching career helping students develop a positive math mindset. In my personal experience, I found that students with a more positive approach to learning mathematics had a significantly better experience learning math. These students had higher confidence, and higher grades.
The best advice I can give to master your mindset in your math classes is to stop fearing mistakes. Instead, work hard to start seeing them as opportunities for growth.
Making errors in math is part of the learning process, and each mistake teaches you something new.
Rather than getting discouraged by difficult problems, approach them with curiosity. Struggling with a concept means you’re engaging with the material and pushing your understanding further. The more you practice, the more comfortable you’ll become with handling challenges.
If you catch yourself thinking, “I’m not good at math,” try replacing it with, “I haven’t mastered this yet, but I can improve with practice.” A growth mindset helps you stay motivated and persistent, even when faced with tough problems.
Remember that mistakes are not a reflection of your intelligence; they are stepping stones to success! When you review your errors, ask yourself: What went wrong? How can I approach this differently next time? This reflection will help you avoid similar mistakes in the future.
Recognize your small victories along the way. Whether you finally understand a tricky concept or improve your test score, acknowledging progress boosts confidence and keeps you motivated.

How to Study for a Math Test
Prepare and Use Study Materials
Having good study habits is essential for long-term success in math. And an important part of having good study habits is making sure that you have effective study materials ready.
Keeping organized and thorough notes while learning new material is important. Keeping organized class notes or lecture notes is a good thing to do because it makes it easier to find important material that you should focus on while studying.
Without good study notes, you will find it difficult to know where to spend your time and attention during your study sessions. This leads to wasted time filled with ineffective studying that will not help you succeed.
While studying, create a formula sheet or a summary sheet to help you quickly review key information before the test. Writing out this key information gives your brain another opportunity to engage with it, giving you the best chance that it will sink in before your big test day.
Another tip I have is to take advantage of your textbook, math homework, and assignments. Each of these provide practice with key math problems that will likely appear on the test.

Practice Makes Permanent
Work through practice problems, example problems, and homework problems to build confidence. But make sure you are able to do so on your own without the guidance of an answer key.
When you are ready, find similar problems and solve them repeatedly to help reinforce each key concept.
Simulating a real test environment by taking a practice exam, making your own practice test, or doing mock tests will give you a better idea of what to expect when it comes to the real thing.
Ask your teacher if they would be comfortable sharing past tests, past papers, or previous years’ exams. These resources provide insight into the types of math problems that commonly appear on tests.
The goal isn’t to just memorize what will be on the test. Instead, your goal should be to break down any uncertainty about the types of questions that may show up.
This can help you direct your time and energy while you study, as well as boosting your confidence in your problem-solving skills.
Study Time Management
The way you spend your dedicated study time will directly impact how successful you are on your next math test. Everything from how clean your room is to the level of noise impacts how effective your study time is.
How does your study time look? Where do you study? What is around you while you study?
Aim to keep a clear workspace that is free from distractions. Music and social media are two of the most common distractors that limit how effective your study time is. If you need a quiet place, studying at your local library can improve your concentration.
Another important consideration is making sure that you spend the right amount of time preparing. One powerful study hack that I learned when I was a student is studying throughout a unit, rather than at the end of a unit.
Block out enough time each day to review what you learned in your math classes in a distraction free space. Doing this for just a few minutes every day will help you avoid last-minute cramming, while boosting your confidence when you start studying for your test.
Remember that taking a short break between study sessions will help with retention!

Use Active Learning Strategies
When you study for your math test, what are you doing? Are you staring mindlessly at a screen or your notes? Are you writing and solving problems?
The actions you take matter when you study and will impact your overall success!
Engage in active recall by testing yourself on key concepts rather than passively rereading notes. Working through a problem set helps strengthen your problem-solving skills while reminding you of key strategies.
Identifying concept errors from previous assignments or quizzes and fixing them helps support a deeper understanding of the material.
Instead of just memorizing formulas, practice applying them across different difficulty levels of questions.
Using Study Groups and Support Networks
Joining study groups or finding a study buddy can make studying more interactive. Attending office hours and seeking professional help from math teachers will help clarify difficult topics.
Try watching helpful math YouTube videos for alternate explanations to complex topics.
Using Q&A communities or discussing topics in social media study groups can reinforce learning by exposing you to different explanations and problem-solving techniques.
Just be mindful to stay on task while using social media. It’s very easy to end up distracted and wasting your precious study time!

The Night Before
Your last-minute review sessions should be spent doing light revision rather than intensively learning new concepts or solving complex problems.
Your goal as you approach your test date should be to not overwhelm yourself or shake your confidence. Instead, spend this time refreshing your memory of the concepts you already spent time reviewing.
Getting enough sleep is important to ensure that your mind is operating at its best on the day of your test. A good night’s sleep is just as important as studying!
Instead of staying up late stressing, trust the preparation you’ve done. Doing a final review of your formula sheet and summary sheet is a good idea, but make sure to relax and mentally prepare yourself for the test ahead.
Test-Taking Strategies for the Big Day
It’s normal to feel a sense of math anxiety before an upcoming test, especially for high school students tackling their big math exams for the first time.
Taking a deep breath and staying calm will help you focus. Preparation leads to confidence, so rather than relying on luck, remember that good luck comes from good preparation – and you’ve done that already!
Be prepared to answer questions of different formats, such as word problems, multiple-choice questions, and short answer questions.
Remember to pay close attention to word problems and complex problems to ensure you understand what is being asked. Underlining the key information presented is a helpful way to focus on what’s important in the question.
If you’re unsure of an answer, remember to always show your work for partial credit—even if you don’t reach the correct answer!
Keeping track of the time limit is crucial, but don’t spend too much of your energy worrying about time. Make sure you have enough time to complete all questions and don’t spend too much time on one problem.
Prioritize solving easier problems first to secure quick points before tackling complex problems. A good strategy is to divide the test duration based on the number of questions so you can pace yourself effectively.
Learn From Your Feedback!
After the test, it is important to take time to reflect. Remember that a math test is a learning experience that is designed to provide you with feedback on your learning.
The most important thing that you can take from your results will not be your grade! Instead, it will be lessons that you can learn about how effective your studying was.
Think about what worked well and what could be improved for next time. Think about the amount of time you spent studying, the distractions you faced, and your comfort level with the material you studied.
When you receive your test results back, a good way to improve is to analyze mistakes and adjust your approach. If you struggled with the difficulty levels of the questions on the test, make sure you spend additional time reviewing those topics again before your next math exams.
The saddest thing I see in my math teaching is when a student is discouraged by a poor result and labels themselves “bad at math” for the rest of their math career. With a positive math mindset, you can learn to use the feedback you receive to improve for the next test!
Did you find these tips for how to study for a math test helpful? Share this post and subscribe to Math By The Pixel on YouTube for more helpful mathematics content!