2 Techniques to help remain in the growth zone

To help monitor your anxiety levels, it can be useful to keep a printed version of the growth zone model around, or draw your own version. When you’re studying maths, consciously think about your level of anxiety and place a counter (you could use a coin or a small stone) within the corresponding zone. Assess your anxiety levels on a regular basis throughout your study period, and if your anxiety reaches a point where you are unable to study productively, try some of these techniques to reduce it.

• Take a short break and come back afresh. If you are struggling with a topic it can be useful to go away and think about something else for a while and then come back and try again. It may be helpful to return to a point where you understood the work and carry on from there. If you are struggling to answer a particular question, then start again from the beginning, using a clean sheet of paper, don’t look at what you did before, or try a similar question and see if answering that one helps.
• Move away from your study space. Changing your physical location, for example going for a walk and thinking about your maths problem can help.
• Start small – do something easy and then build up. You might be able to become desensitised to the maths that is causing you anxiety if you gradually work through different levels.
• Try to explain the maths to someone else. Often trying to explain a topic to someone else can help with your understanding, it doesn’t matter if they understand it, often verbalising the problem can help you to understand.
• Ask for some help. Maths can be taught in many different ways, if you don’t understand the way it is being taught, ask someone that knows about maths if they can explain it in a different way, or have a look at the internet and see if there are tutorials explaining it that may help.
• Move on to a different topic. If you are struggling with a particular topic, looking at something new and situating yourself within the growth or comfort zone before returning to the problem can help.

They may not remove your anxiety completely, but hopefully will reduce it to a level where you can return to studying maths. When you do start again, it may be necessary to look at work within your Comfort zone until you have regained confidence and are able to move into the Growth zone. If your anxiety is still at a point where you can’t return to studying, please revisit the strategies in Session 3 and use them to get yourself in a better frame of mind prior to coming back to your studies.