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How I Became a More Competitive Student in Maths with Tutoring

Abbey shares her step-by-step process that transformed her Maths results—so you, too, can break past your limits and reach your highest potential!

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Matrix Education

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Working hard to break into a Band 6 in Maths and become a competitive student? Abbey knows the feeling. In this guest article, Matrix Scholarship student Abbey shares how she finally pushed past the 90% mark, and her tips that can help you do the same

Me, myself and I

Name: Abbey

Grade: Year 11

School: Willoughby Girls High School

I’m Abbey and I’m currently in Year 11. Like many students, I’ve had my fair share of ups and downs with certain subjects in high school. I’ve always been a rather well-rounded student, but for a long time, Maths was the one subject that was always my weaker subject and I always felt stuck.

If you’ve ever poured hours into revision only to see the same frustrating result, you’ll know exactly what I mean. It can feel like you’re doing everything right, but something just isn’t clicking.

Hitting the 90% ceiling

No matter how much effort I put in, it felt like there was this invisible glass ceiling that I couldn’t break through. I’d score in the high 80s or low 90s which are decent results, but not quite where I wanted to be.

What did I have to do to go from 90% to 100%?

I wasn’t making huge, obvious errors. It was always the same silly little mistakes: a misread question, a rushed calculation, or not being specific enough in my study process to fix those mistakes I was making. Those minor details would snowball in a test and hold me back from reaching those top marks.

Looking back, the problem wasn’t that I didn’t care or wasn’t trying. I just didn’t have the right systems in place to catch those mistakes early or the feedback loop to help me fine-tune my approach.

The biggest help in turning things around

Everything seemed to change once I began taking Maths courses. The lessons were structured in a way that made sense, so I was building a foundation and knowledge of the content week by week. For the first time, I wasn’t just memorising formulas or practising aimlessly. I was really understanding the content.

With that, Maths started to become a lot easier to understand thanks to these lessons and the support from the amazing teachers.

At school, I no longer felt like I was struggling to keep up. Instead of cramming in new information each lesson, I was using the lesson to master what I already knew, increasing my fluency, and challenging myself with even harder concepts and questions.

And that’s when things started to click. My marks lifted. But more importantly, my mindset changed. I grew an admiration and passion for Mathematics that I still carry with me today.

With each test, I felt my confidence increase and my results improve. I was levelling up to my full potential.

Now, I feel like I’m no longer stuck just below that glass ceiling. I’m moving up with a clearer direction and real confidence in my abilities.

The key to becoming a competitive student?

One of the biggest mindset shifts I’ve had since tutoring, and what I think truly helped me become a competitive student, is learning to treat mistakes as learning goldmines.

I used to move on quickly after a test, maybe glance at a mark or skim through answers. But now I really dissect every little mistake. It’s so important to reflect on your results and use feedback.

Being ruthless towards your mistakes is integral in ensuring academic success.

Imagine studying without marking your work or reviewing your errors. It’s like an annoying horror movie where the clueless characters walk into the haunted mansion, ignoring the repeated signs of danger and meeting a very unfortunate fate due to their lack of observational skills.

The signs are there. Maybe you’ve misread questions, rushed steps, or don’t have a full understanding of the concept. Unless you stop and look closely, you’ll keep running into the same problems again and again. Do not let your mistakes fall into obscurity! You will regret it!

Free Y12 Maths Advanced Applications of Differentiation Download

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Learning from mistakes to become a competitive student: Step-by-step

What changed everything for me was building a proper process for reviewing mistakes, one that actually helps you maximise improvement from your mistakes instead of just feeling bad. Here’s my tried and true process for reflecting on your results to become a competitive student:

1. Prioritise past papers

Whenever I know a test is coming up, I always make sure to prioritise doing past papers. I always do them under test conditions (no music, no chatting to your friends, no multitasking, and no notes) so I can see how I perform in a realistic environment.

This does two things:

It reveals your strengths and weaknesses under pressure.
It helps you get comfortable with the exact type of questions you’ll see in your exam.

Matrix weekly quizzes and topic tests helped with this, too. They’re timed, challenging, and give you a good sense of your current level. But what matters most is what you do after the paper.

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2. Mark and annotate

As soon as I finish a paper, I mark it myself. Yes, it takes effort and may seem tedious, but this part is crucial.

I suggest highlighting and annotating each failed question with:

What the correct answer and workings were
Where the error came from (for example, did you misread the question? Miss a step? Need to understand the concept better?).

I like to imagine that with every annotation I write, I’m rewiring my brain to recognise and avoid these mistakes. In other words, it’s a ‘note to future me’ to never make this mistake again.

3. Analyse and record

At this stage, it’s really important to recognise any patterns in your errors. Is there a particular subject or style of question that you struggle with? Maybe you always lose marks on word problems. Or maybe you always forget to add units or complete the square. Whatever it is, I write it down.

I have a sticky-note system and a book near my desk where I note my repeated mistakes or tricky concepts. That way, I see them every time I sit down to study so I can consciously avoid repeating them. I also review them and see whether or not I still make this mistake as time passes. It helps keep me accountable and aware of my blind spots.

4. “Don’t practise until you get it right, practise until you can’t get it wrong”

Outside of school and Matrix, I am a dancer. I’ve recognised one piece of dance advice is a tenet in studying for academic achievement: “Don’t practise until you get it right, practise until you can’t get it wrong”.

Once I’ve spotted a mistake, I practise that type of question over and over. If I got confused by completing the square, I’ll go back to the Matrix theory book or textbook and do a full set of related questions.

I’d also set myself a goal, depending on how critical this mistake is, or whether it’s a mistake in theory (e.g, not understanding the quadratic formula) or practice (e.g, writing the wrong number down).

For silly errors, like dropping a minus sign or forgetting units, I’ll set myself a mini challenge: for example, “Complete 20 questions with no unit mistakes.”

I will keep practising with extra questions, solely focusing on my targeted mistake, until I have completed my goal successfully.

That kind of targeted repetition rewires your brain and it shows when the next test rolls around.

matrix education a printed essay with red pen corrections

5. Don’t be too hard on yourself

Throughout this process of analysing your mistakes, I’ve learnt something very important for Year 12 (and life): Mistakes aren’t failures, they’re feedback.

When you’re aiming to be a top student, it’s easy to get frustrated. But part of becoming competitive is learning to be kind to yourself and honest about where you need to grow. Progress takes time and mistakes are part of how you get there. Don’t be too hard on yourself!

Studying for a test is meant to be a learning process; that’s the point. You are tested on more difficult content to assess your skills and understanding, so you are meant to make mistakes. What separates competitive students from the rest is their ability to acknowledge their imperfections and work with them to achieve their best.

The more you embrace that mindset, the more likely you are to actually improve.

So next time you finish a test or quiz, don’t just move on. Take a breath, look at what went wrong, and use it to get better. That’s how you level up in anything you’re trying to master.

I hope these tips help you feel more confident tackling your own challenges in Maths. Breaking past the 90% barrier wasn’t easy, but it was possible with the right approach. Keep learning from your mistakes, stay consistent, and don’t be afraid to ask for help. You’re capable of more than you think!

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Written by Matrix Education

Matrix is Sydney's No.1 High School Tuition provider. Come read our blog regularly for study hacks, subject breakdowns, and all the other academic insights you need.

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