A math refresher is a colloquial term for a situation in which a student may require remedial math work. Often, a student can take such courses as an elective during the course of a regular school day and receive credit for it. In some cases, the student may need to take a math refresher course after school or on his or her own time. These courses assist students in getting to the point where they need to be in order to continue with a regular course of study or prepare for a standardized test.
Even in high school, a math refresher course may be required depending on the situation. Students who need a certain number of math credits to graduate, for example, may be unable to progress to higher mathematics without first improving their understanding of the fundamentals. Depending on the situation, students may have the option of receiving more formal classroom instruction or working one-on-one with a tutor.
The math refresher course is designed to teach the student concepts that he or she has already seen or heard before, regardless of the student’s math level. It is usually not a case of teaching new material, but rather of reminding the student of previously taught material. Students may find that a math refresher course allows them to progress much more quickly than a course with material to which they have never been exposed.
Before moving on to college mathematics, some college students, particularly those in community colleges, may require a math refresher. In such cases, the student’s eligibility for college math credit or elective credit may be determined by the course’s difficulty. In some cases, a student may require more than one math course before progressing to college-level work.
These remedial math students may not be bad at math, but they have simply forgotten some of the fundamental concepts. Some students, for example, forget the basic order of operations, which includes parenthesis, exponents, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction, as well as the special rules and ranks associated with each level of those operations. When students are re-exposed to these concepts, they usually remember them easily.
A standardized math test was frequently used by schools and teachers to determine each student’s level. If the test results reveal that the student needs to brush up on their math skills, the test may even recommend a specific level or course. This assists administrators in determining the best placement for the student, as well as preventing the student from becoming overly frustrated while learning new concepts before having the necessary background to complete the work.