Reading, then writing, then thinking, in the language mathematics is written in. Whether you are racing ahead of your class or held up by an idea that will not settle, the way through is the same. There are a few ways to begin. The right one depends on where you are now.
Before you choose anything, it helps to know exactly where you stand. Over two short sittings you work through questions built to show how you read mathematics, how you set your reasoning down, and what you do when you are stuck. Not how many marks you drop. You come away with a written account of how you work and a clear recommendation for what comes next.
For most students, this is where the reading begins.
If you are beginning Higher Level mathematics in the IB Diploma, some of its hardest ideas are already waiting for you. Proof, complex numbers and vectors. The Prologue takes you through them in a small group, before your class arrives, so you meet them for the second time when it matters most.
Students who begin in a group often go on to read one to one.
This is the heart of what we do. Taught one to one, it begins with learning to read mathematics properly. We take the definitions, notation and proofs you have only half met and stay with each until it genuinely makes sense to you. From there you learn to write it and then to think in it, on a question of your own.
Learning to read mathematics properly, its notation, definitions and proofs, until each one is yours.
Learning to set your reasoning down so clearly that anyone could follow it.
An inquiry into a question you choose, with original work to show for it.
Wherever this path takes you, one thing stays close.
When you stop speaking a language, you begin to forget it. Mathematics is no different. The Practice Room keeps the conversation going, with a set of problems each Monday and a written commentary each Saturday about what the week was really asking. Nothing new to learn and nothing to catch up on.
Whatever you begin with, this is how you stay close to it.
Not sure where to begin?
Sit The Portrait. It will show you the door that is yours.