When Getting the Right Answer Isn't Right

It is always exciting to meet new students.  Oftentimes, the students are nervous about meeting me and to be honest, a lot of times I'm nervous about meeting them.  I always hope that our personalities click and we can get over any hurdles that seem too difficult to overcome.

The first lesson that I always start my sessions with involves form over substance.  I learned a while ago that getting the right answer is not always the right answer.

Showing your work is the key to unlocking the door of success in math.  Every time you do a problem you need to follow these steps:

1. Write down the problem.  Not part of the problem, but the whole problem.  This is always where you start.
2. Simplify the problem and each time you do write the simplified problem again.  This is where most people take short cuts in their heads.
3. Once you have the problem simplified as much as possible, circle, star, underline, or whatever you feel like doing to show this is your answer.
4. The final step is to check your work.  Do the problem again from the beginning and see if you get the same answer.  Test equations to see if they hold true.

Follow these steps and don't deviate, because sometimes the right answer isn't about being right, it's about how you get there.